Harry Potter and the Soul of a Chimera
by TheDivineDemon
Summary: A young Harry Potter's scar is ripped open and a friend makes a sacrifice to save him. Harry Potter becomes something more, something with so much soul. Eventual HxF
1. Chapter 1

**From the weird and twisted mind of someone who raps "Demonic by my nature but so Divine in my nurture", It's really better if you don't ask. **

**Edited by author 12-27-10 (felt it had to be done)**

**Chapter one: Birth**

Geneva Lefèvre nee Delven died in the year 1678 at the age of 27. She was one of the few witches caught during the Witch Hunts and one of the fewer who didn't have enough time to cast a flame-freezing charm on themselves. And the worst part about this that it was entirely her fault for being found out. She had turned into her animal form of a goat and went out for one of her usual runs around the meadow but when she got back to her home she had forgotten to look around her before returning to human form, letting one of the villagers see her.

She died burning to a stake outside of the very church she married her husband in just a few years ago.

When she died she had worried for her baby girl so she refused to pass on. She forced her spirit to bind to their family home, but when she searched through it in her astral form she found the house empty and in a rush it seemed. Her husband probably took the baby when he heard about the burning. He, a non-magical himself, couldn't do much for her. Taking their child far away would probably be the smartest and best thing to do.

Knowing that her family was now safe wherever they went, Geneva now had time to be scared for herself. She did not know what laid ahead of her in the afterlife, if she would be punished for her simple desire to see her family or not. She could hear the other sides call whispering, yelling, in her ear to come but she was just too scared. Too terrified to move on from her current plain of existence and go into the light that she could see in the corner of her eye, so she stayed.

She just stayed in her home's little library haunting the small home in France. A year after her death the people of the town came into her home and started to take her things. Since none of them were magical they could not see her but they could feel the creeping cold of her presence. They ignored the cold as they took her family possessions. As hard as it was to see these possessions being taken away from her home she also saw this as a chance to do what she never did before her death, travel the world, or to at least get away from the place that held so many bitter sweet memories and feelings.

She fixed herself to one of the books that they were taking from her library. Apparently the town decided to hold an auction of their local witch's belongings. This was not an uncommon practice by the people, it was either burn it all or make some money out of it.

It was difficult to just float there and watch every last item she held of value in life just be taken away as if she never existed. But through the selling she saw that one group gave the occasional glance towards her, implying to her that they were also magical. Probably here to gain something of magical value from her death.

When the book she haunted came up for bidding she floated over with it and noticed the raised eyebrows she received from the people she assumed were magical. Those people also won the bid for the book and a few other things that solidified her view that they were magical, old potions vials, spell books, and apparently some of her dresses were worth buying.

She stayed with the magical family for about twenty years, witnessing them and many others of the nearby magics go into hiding under the International Statue of Magical Secrecy act of 1692. At that point she grew wary of the family. At first they seemed like a nice enough family but as the years went on and they had to go into hiding she watched as they all became bitter towards the non-magical, now calling them muggles a term to call them fools, for putting them into hiding and seemed to be dabbling into the most disgusting types of magic. So one day in winter when a stray bird came close enough to the home, she bound herself to the bird and they both flew away to its migration.

She traveled with the bird for a few days, disgusted by some of its eating habits. They eventually landed in a small shipping town where she attached herself to a ship named Alicea, probably after someone's daughter or lover. She enjoyed sailing with that lively crew for many years and even stayed on when the captain passed the ship down to his son, and still stayed on when the ship was destroyed and they got a new one.

The crew sailed to many countries in both Europe and Africa with a few side trips to Asia. Even if none of them could see her she enjoyed the trips. She met a few other ghosts on her trips as well as a few magical. She followed a few other crews and people since, allowing her to see large portions of the world she never even knew existed. She seen the new world and it colonies, she haunted the ship in Boston when they tossed all the tea in the harbor, she saw the horrors of the slave trade, she saw both the World Wars, she seen lovers seeing each other after years of separation, she seen magic being made and discover in various forms. She's seen revolution, she's seen love, she's seen horror, and she saw so much that she only grew more fearful of moving on.

In 1984 she had bound herself to a grandfather clock and was shipped to Great Britain. She and the clock stayed in the store window for little over a year until a portly man with a walrus like mustache purchased the clock.

She was mildly disappointed to see the neighborhood she was being shipped into looked so bleak and boring. Every house seemed so similar that even the grass looked like a copy of the blade next to it. She had guessed that her stay here will be short and be one of her more boring stays. She was actually about to attach herself to the truck and get away from that place but then something caught her eye.

When someone dies they lose and miss many things, the sense of touch, the sense of taste and as hard as it is to believe the weight of their bodies. But what they gain are two things, the ability to literally feel magic and what would best be described as a spiritual sight, the ability to literally see someone's soul. Both those senses picked something up from inside the house she was being lifted into. A strong but rather beaten up red soul shining brightly through the cracks of the house and an intense feeling of magic that seemed to come in constant waves. She thought that maybe this was some wizard's home and that he sent his non-magical servant to fetch him a clock.

But she was proven wrong when she entered the home and was placed against the hallways wall next to a cupboard. The home was too stiff and plain to be magical, even the most neat and orderly of magical people would have something 'odd' or seemingly out of place in their home and their homes usually screamed with life. But this home was so plain and barely held the sense that someone lived there. And the strangest part is that the soul she noticed seemed to be coming from the cupboard next to her.

Floating away from her clock she poked her head through the wall and saw a small green eyed child, with a lightning bolt shaped scar above his right eyebrow, staring back at her in surprise. She held a similar expression on her face as well as she saw the owner of the soul. Red usually meant a passionate and brave person, a soul she saw in many in the new world and on the battle field of the wars but never had she seen such a vibrant red on child. How could a soul that shined so bright belong to such a frail looking child who didn't even look like he was a day passed his fifth, maybe sixth birthday? And not only that, the amount of magic she felt coming off of him belonged to someone at least ten years his senior.

At first the boy seemed afraid but he then swallowed the lump in his throat and stared her right in the eyes "Who are you?"

Geneva was set back a bit. It obvious that the boy never seen a ghost before but he didn't stammer and went straight by the question 'what are you'.

She entered the room fully and gave a small cough, it wasn't needed but she felt it helped her in speaking English. "My name is Geneva Lefèvre, it is a pleasure to meet you" her English was very good with just a hint of her French accent but of course having a few decades to practice helped.

Harry gave her a small smile "My names Harry Potter." He scrunched his face in thought, an act she found adorable and made her wish once again that she could have seen her daughter grow up "Are you a ghost?"

She gave him an amused smile that screamed 'what do you think' "Yes I am"

Harry's face scrunched a little bit more "Uncle Vernon said ghost don't exist."

"Well, I'm here aren't I?" Harry nodded "Then I must exist" The boy nodded again, slowly, as if he was trying to take it in. As he did this she noticed how he was cradling his right arm. "Are you alright?"

The boy looked unsure how to answer as he held his arm tighter to himself "I'm fine. Arm just hurts a bit." The ghostly woman frowned and floated down to a spot on the bed next him, making the boy shiver a little because of the cold she emitted.

"Let me see it." The boy, who was taught to always do what an adult says, held his arm out reluctantly. Geneva scanned the arm over and frowned at the swelling and the way it seemed to bend. "I think this is broken. You should go see a healer."

The boy tilted his head to the side at the mention of healer "You mean a doctor?"

She nodded her head realizing this boy was probably being raised non-magical. "Yes, you should get there soon so it does not miss-set." She paused for a minute "How long has it been since it's been hurt?"

"I don't know. A while." The woman shook her head already knowing that the healers would need to re-break his arm to set it right.

She placed her ghostly hands over the swollen area and heard a sigh of relief from the boy when her cold hands touched "Is that better?"

"Much, thank you." The pain was still there but the cold eased it greatly.

The woman then took a brief minute to take in the room and was disgusted by what she saw. It reminded her of the slave ship she haunted once. It was small, dusty and cramped, she doubted she would have fitted in there comfortably if she was alive. The cupboard was barely lit by a dim blinking bulb above their heads, giving it a gloomy feeling. The cot Harry was sitting on was small and thin with a hint of mold on one corner. By the foot of the bed was a pale with flies hovering over it, tilting her head towards it she saw it was filled with urine and waste, it made her grateful that she couldn't smell anymore. Completing the image was two empty plates by the cat flap of the door where stale pieces of bread laid with some nibble marks on them. The only thing that made this image worse to her was the fact that outside of that room was a perfectly good home.

"Why are you in the cupboard Harry?" She asked gently wanting to know why a hurt child would be staying in such a horrible place.

"I don't know. I was watching Dudley play with some of his new toys and wanted to play with one and then it was in my hand. After that Aunt Petunia screamed and Uncle Vernon started to hit me, yelling something about 'not having a freak in his home'. I don't remember much, thing kind of went black and then I was back in my room. But it's okay, I'm use to it" He finished that off with a smile.

She found several things wrong with that. One was that he got beat for accidental magic, even back in her time when witches and wizards started to be hated they rarely punished a magical child. Two was that all he really did was taking a toy that wasn't being used to play with. Three was that he considered this filthy little cupboard to be his room. And last, he was used to this, meaning it happened often. She had to do something.

"Harry, I'll be back in a minute, alright?" Harry nodded his head and Geneva floated out of the room and looked down the hallway. She saw the fat man from earlier standing next to an abnormally thin woman smiling proudly at their new clock while a voice in the back was screaming for his mother to make him food. She silently seethed at this and forced herself to move on.

She made it to the edge of the property before she reached her space limit, she could only go about a twenty yards away from her bounded. She looked around and noticed people walking down the street, she screamed out to them hoping that they were magical but it was a failure. She screamed for a while longer hoping anyone in the area could hear her but again it was for not.

Realizing floating there screaming wouldn't solve anything she went back to the cupboard. She sighed as she entered through the wall and placed her hands over the swollen arm, getting a sound of relief from the child. "I'm sorry Harry, but there were no people of magic around so I couldn't get anyone's attention."

Harry looked at her strange, using that questioning look all children had. Realizing that he was probably a non-magically raised child he didn't know what she meant. She gave him a soft smile as she attempted to explain it to him "Only people of magic can see ghost Harry. And you Harry are a person of magic. How do the English say it, a wizard?"

Harry scrunched his nose again as he thought "Uncle Vernon said magic doesn't exist. He says little boys who believe in magic get beat." Geneva didn't know whether to gasp or grind her ghostly teeth. Magic, whether they can use it or not, was something all children should be able to believe in. Magic was hope and possibilities. How could someone try and take that away from a child.

She stroked the small child's face, knowing she couldn't actually touch him but hoped it comforted him "It exist Harry. There is a whole other world out there just waiting for you."

The boy's face lit up at the thought and so many things made sense to him. Like how things would start floating around him or how some of his boo-boos healed so quickly, both of which got him hurt again if his relatives saw. But could he let such a hope seep into him, a hope his uncle would only smack and scream out of him. He decided it was okay, as long as they never found out.

As Geneva watched the boy's face play through emotions she bound herself to him making him her new anchor. She was not letting this child out of her sight and as soon as she found a magical she would drag them over to help the boy by any means she could.

It was two days before the boy's "family" showed themselves, save the time they slid a slice of toast or other barely livable morsels under the door. The aunt just sneered at the smell and turned her nose up, telling the boy to dump the filth in the trash can out back. He asked if he go see a doctor about his arm, she looked like she was about to yell at him but even she could see the odd bend it had and not wanting to look bad to her neighbors she agreed.

After dumping and cleaning out his pail Harry got in the car with his disgruntled looking uncle. Geneva was proven right as the doctors had to brace Harry to re-break his arm so it could set right. On the way to and from the hospital the ghost looked for someone who might be able to see her but apparently in Britain very few liked to hide in plain sight. She was also upset when the healers actually believed the lie the fat man told them of the boy falling out of a tree. Sure it is a believable excuse but couldn't they tell the difference between a broken arm from falling from a tree and one from getting hit?

Being a person of magic, and an above average one in strength for his age, Harry healed in two weeks. This stunned the doctor when they did the second x-ray and made his uncle furious. When they got home Vernon took off his long belt and started to lash at the boy's back with the buckle. Geneva wished she could slap the man to make his stop or at least something more then make him feel an occasional cold breeze.

All she could really do when this happened was offer her presence to the boy and use her cold touch to ease the pain. She continued to look for someone who could see her on their rare occasion out but the every time she seemed to find someone able to see her and actually bothered listening to her she got pulled away from as her anchor got dragged out of the area.

She actually cheered for joy when her boy started going to school at the end of summer, he could finally tell someone about the abuse and maybe make some friends. But his uncle already went out of his way to warn him about what would happen if he talked and his cousins little gang made sure no one would be Harry's friend. The last one who actually tried to befriend they became there second biggest victim next to Harry.

After their first test in class Harry learned it was bad to do better than his cousin. When he got 100 made into a smiley face while his cousin got a 70 his cousin beat him on the way home and his uncle slapped him when he got home while his aunt berated him.

Geneva didn't know if she should feel proud or worried when Harry only let out two tears while he took the pain. But when he went back to his cupboard he cried digging his face in to his pillow where Geneva's lap would have been. He cried how he didn't like his family and that he actually felt bad about that, he cried how he didn't want to give them satisfaction of hearing him cry. All Geneva could do was whisper to the boy that it was alright and everything would be alright, even when she doubted it herself. She wished she could just have him run away but she knew how the world was and she knew how hard it would be for a five year old boy on his own. She felt more helpless than she did tied to the post.

Despite the having to hold himself back in school Harry generally enjoyed school. It was an escape from that place of chores and cramped rooms. Even when he couldn't have friends or had to run on one of his cousin Dudley's "Harry Hunts" he could enjoy the sun and being able to actually talk to others, even if it was only the faculty. He liked spending his recess outside lying in the grass and talking to Geneva, having her tell him stories of her travels. Even when it started to snow he would lay on the ground, ignoring the ghost's fussing about him catching a cold, he would enjoy the sun and the wind biting at his nose.

One day when he was walking back to number four Dudley and his friends started another Harry Hunt. Harry slipped on a patch of ice in his run and fell on his chin allowing the gang of five year olds to catch him. After hitting him a few times Dudley's friend Pierce told the rest of them to hold Harry down "Guys hold him down, I got an idea."

The other boys did as he said each pinning down one of his limbs, his right hurting the most from his fat cousin sitting on it, and Pierce sat on his chest and pulled something out of his pocket. "Like it, my dad gave it to me for when we go hunting." When he finished his sentence he flipped out the small blade out of its handle and held Harry's head by his neck "Now hold still Potter while I make your scar cooler."

All through the time this happened Geneva screamed at them, whacking her intangible limbs at them. But she could do nothing, not even that sudden burst of cold bothered them since it was winter. So all she could really do was watch in horror as Harry struggled against boys in vain.

Pierce started at the top of the scar tracing the design and letting loose the blood. The other boys seemed nervous when they saw the blood but after Pierce and Dudley's yelling they stayed where they were. Pierce then cut through the eyebrow, making sure to press down hard, and made a quick deep slice through his eye, stopping a little passed the cheek bone.

Pleased with his work he got up from his spot on his chest and inspected his work. The other boys got up and looked as well, only one pleased while the other three looked sick. But they all had the same response when Harry's body started to jerk, twist and spasm. Get out of there before they get in trouble.

As the boys ran away Geneva looked on in horror, not at Harry's spasming but at the sickly green color that started to raid its way into Harry's bright red soul. The two colors fought and tore at each other. She knew if this continued they would both kill each other and the body would be left dead without a soul.

She could think of only one way to help the boy at the moment and it was something that she was warned and feared to do, possession, the act of entering another body and taking it over. She was warned by a senior ghost not to do this because it was dangerous and risked being torn into nothingness by the soul she was trying to invade. But right now she didn't care if she ended her near four hundred year existence if it meant saving this child.

She took one last gulp of what she wished was air and dove into the child's body and soul. She was surprised that when she entered she could hear a familiar 'clack' of a goat's hoof. Looking down at herself she could see her old animagus form of a mountain goat, glowing faintly of her soul color, a pale blue.

Taking her attention away from herself and onto her task she was risking existence for, she started walking towards the sound of a struggle ahead of her. Not walking far she found herself looking at a bright red lion cub backing away with a growl on its lips, showing its sharp teeth, facing a very large green snake coiled up and looking ready to strike.

Letting out a loud "Baaahh!" of a battle cry she rammed her horns against the serpent, sending it whirling back a few feet and stood between it and the cub. The snake recollected it's self into a coil and raised its head high so it was looking down at them, Geneva stomping her hooves as it slid out its tongue like mad and made a sneer like gesture.

"Do not interfere!" It hissed loudly "This body shall be mine! It is his fate! To give his body so I can rise again!" As it rose higher to look down at the French woman she could see that parts of him weren't really there, like they were see through or fading away. She had a clue at what this thing might be. She had heard whispers about it during both her life and her after life. The act of tearing ones soul apart and placing it in another object, one of the darkest and most sickening types of magic she ever heard of. An anchor to this world so one could not truly pass on. And from the looks of the… creature in front of her whoever the soul once was had done the disgusting act more than once.

"You are a Horcrux, aren't you?" She managed to bah out and stared into the snake's surprised eyes.

The snake getting over its surprise gave a sick smile and then a laugh "Yessss, I am a part of the great Lord Voldemort! And for him to rise again this body needs to become mine"

Her mind racing rapidly as she tried to figure out a way to stop this hostile invasion of the young boy's body. But at the moment as injured as his soul and body were, it might be fatal to drag and or push this vile soul out. As much as she hated the idea there was only one thing she could think of to get Harry out of this. If the only solution to stop a hostile invasion was not surrender but to ally oneself or come to an agreement, then by all means that is what needs to be done.

"So you're just a part, doesn't that mean that mean you were abandoned." She said trying to play with the possible ego of the soul. If one wished to be immortal then they would most likely have an ego, and even better for her at the moment, a fear of dying.

And apparently it did "What! No! I am him! We shall be everlasting!"

"No, that would be him, the one who made you. What you are is just an anchor, a tool to him. To be used and thrown away after the use is done. You are nothing but a means to an end" She stayed silent as she let that thought plant its way into the soul's memory before she pressed further "Don't you want to be something more than just a tool? Do you really want to help the man that abandoned you?"

As she let silence reign again she watched as the snake debated her words in its head before sneering and looking at her. It hated to admit it but she had a point. All a Horcrux was to Voldemort was a tool so he wouldn't have to die. And he made more than one, totally ignoring the warnings of the book, so it was probably seen as disposable to him. Something he would use and abandon when he didn't need it any longer. It would not let itself to be used, Tom Marvolo Riddle was nobodies tool, he was no one's stooge. And he would take revenge on those who tried.

"What do you propose?"

She gave slight sigh in relief as her plan seemed to work before a sick feeling came from where her stomach should have been. "At his rate both you and this child will die. Your souls feuding over this body WILL tear you apart." The snakes head actually flinched back at the thought of dying and she was sure the cub behind her had a similar reaction. " What I suggest you do is… to become something new. Become whole again. Become more than what he was. Become one with this boy's soul."

As she spoke the snakes seemed to smile more and more at the idea. It actually saw her point. It was abandoned just to be a tool and becoming something that he couldn't use was appealing to it, even if it meant losing itself.

The snake made a gesture similar to a smile. The book he read on Horcrux said that breaking the soul apart would weaken oneself and it said something about affecting the user's state of mind, but Voldemort ignored all that in favor of becoming eternal. By becoming one with the boy would not only his magic get stronger but the boy would have his memories, which meant that it would be a fresh start stronger than ever before. The one who abandoned him would pay greatly.

Seeing that the snake was agreeing Geneva turned towards the cub behind her. It was still glaring at the snake but seemed more at ease than before with her there. "Harry," she said gaining the cubs attention.

"Ms. Geneva?"

"Yes Harry, now listen we don't have much time. Right now both of you are about to kill each other." The cub gained a scared look on its face "But there is a way for you to survive and I've managed to convince him to go with it." She paused in how she would word this to the boy "In order to survive both of you needs to stop being you and become one."

Harry's muzzle scrunched up in a disgusted gesture "I know it sounds bad but it's the only way you'll be able to live, even if you aren't completely you." After she said this she let out a wince as her shoulder visible tore, like she was made of paper.

The snake smiled at seeing this. If he was going to do this he might as well get as much power as possible. "It seems you are in the same situation as we are. So why don't you join us on this little endeavor. Your choice, merge or die."

The goat glared at him, feeling as if she already was taking too much from the boy. She was taken out of her glaring by a slight bumping at her knee. Looking down she saw Harry's face looking up at her "Do it."

She gave him a sad look "Harry, I couldn't do that to you. You are already losing so much. Adding me in would just make less you."

"I don't care, I don't you to go away." Harry's soul looked ready to cry as he stared at her. She gave a small debate but in all honesty it wasn't that hard of a choice. She agreed and the three started to blend.

Harry felt a melting like sensation as he watched his bright red meet the pale blue and sick green. He half expected them to swirl together but it was like the other two got pulled into him. It was like water going into a sponge.

Soon the melting feeling stopped and the sensation changed to something that felt like he was stiffening or becoming more solid, like he was building or growing. His mind raced with knowledge, memories, experiences, and dreams. It felt like his mind was about to blow. The other two noticed the strain on the young so soul as they grew closer to being one and pushed everything they could back using a great deal of the snake's experience in the mind arts to do so. They sealed it in a way that the knowledge would leak and siphon as he grew older or needed it. This act was done reluctantly by the snake but it understood that in order to survive this and get back at the one who wanted to use it as a tool it needed to be done.

As they continued to blend morals and ideals clashed and argued. Likes and dislikes made, ambition met courage, a hate that has gone blinded was now seen in logical and innocent eyes, and a will to die kicking and screaming was forged.

The fragment of Lord Voldemort and the soul of the French maiden no longer existed, Harry potter no longer really existed. That day when the scar was torn and a friend made a sacrifice a new being was born, someone with more soul than anyone.

**I read a few Fanfics like this and you know your boy had to have a go at it. Tell me what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Other fics with something similar "Partially Kissed Hero" by Perfect Lionheart and "Two Halves of one Whole" by Corrupt but Pure. They're not exactly the same as my idea but they inspired it.**

**Also this Harry doesn't need to wear glasses. Based on the fact I didn't need mine till I was eight and that was from a few events… not entirely my fault… okay the fights and the baseball bat yeah, car accident not so much. For those of you who are wondering and don't get it yet, I got hit so many times in the head and eyes that I damaged my vision, I still love to fight though, reason why I think many versions of Harry would need glasses.**

**One last thing, a big thanks to my beta Xardo, dudes a hard ass sometimes but he really helps improve the story.**

**Chapter two: Awaken**

The boy woke up squeezing his eyes shut from the throbbing headache he was currently suffering from. But despite the pain he had to admit that this was the clearest he was thinking in decades, wait he's only five, no she's only five, no it's he, defiantly he. He gave a slight groan as he went through a quick calming exercise he learned from the mind art of Occlumency. He stopped himself mid exercise and wondered when he learned the mind arts and how he knew Occlumency was the magical art of guarding your mind.

After calming himself down, he searched through his memories trying to get a grasp on what's going on, the first one that came up cleared up most of his questions. The encounter of the souls, where three souls, well two souls and a fragment of one, stopped being three and became one. He remembered how the youngest soul that was being used as the base of the new soul couldn't handle the stress of the other two's memories, so they were blocked off only to be used when he was ready for them. Part of him wanted all of them now but he understood this was probably for the best.

He gave a slight groan at the soreness of his body, vaguely regretting having a physical body again. He tried to reach his hand up to rub his temple only to find that his hand was restrained. He opened his eyes in an instant and took a look at his surroundings. Judging by how sterile and white it was he guessed he was in a non-magical, or is it muggle, hospital. Looking down at himself he saw that he was in one of their stereotypical gowns that the youngest soul saw on his visit to fix his arm and in some of the picture books at the school. He also noted that his wrist and ankles were bound to the bars of the bed with some type of fuzzy binds.

He panicked for a moment when he realized he was just seeing out of his left eye but quickly calmed down when he noticed his other eye was just bandaged. It was just covered in bandages and all he could really see was the light seeping through. He shifted his right arm uncomfortably from the needle stuck in his arm. Following the tube up he could see the needle was attached to a pack of clear looking liquid, it unsettled him seeing that someone was pumping an unknown chemical into his body but the logical part of him told him a hospital wouldn't do anything to harm a child, not that it made him feel all that better.

The boy struggled against the binds a bit before he decided to use his magic to get out. He tried doing a wandless cutting charm to free himself but found himself unable to recall how to do wandless magic, or how to cast the spell. He gave out a loud groan, he remembered Occlumency but not how to do wandless magic? Not the pick he would have made but can't do much about it now.

The boy pulled at his restraints a few more times before slamming his back down into the bed and giving a loud groan of frustration. He didn't give up then though, he started to struggle more before getting irritated enough to lean over and try and bite the restraints off. And that was the scene the nurse on duty walked into.

Angela Cutting was what some of her father's ex-classmates called a half-blood, since her father was what they called a pureblood and her mother was what was called a muggleborn. She didn't care about blood status or any of that nonsense, though she would admit she was glad for it at the moment because it did get her this job.

She was currently taking part of a program at St. Mungo's where a healer would go "undercover" in a muggle hospital as a nurse or doctor and help the muggles with their aliments while at the same time learning from the muggles' medicine. As much as some of the wizarding society hated to admit it muggles were clever. Where wizards could use their magic to solve their problems the muggles would find a way to do something similar either through devices or electricity. One of the places where muggles had caught up with them and even surpassed them in some areas was medicine.

Sure healers could heal and re-grow bones over night but they had very little clue on how the human body really worked. When it came to internal organs and a good deal of diseases muggles knew more and knew how to treat it. And by taking that information from them the healers could refine it and make it better. That being the reason why they started the program, that and doing the small human cause of helping the muggles heal where their magic was better to heal then their medicine.

There are only two real requirements to do this job. One, be a muggleborn or a half-blood so you can blend into the muggle world easier. And two you must complete the muggle training as well as the healer training, Angela being one of the few who decided to jump both boats at one which lead to near five years of almost no social life.

She had been working at this hospital for little over a year now and was getting along fabulously with the rest of the staff. But about two weeks ago something happened that got most the nurses and doctor up in arms. A little boy came in bloody and was convulsing so bad from his constant spasms that they had to tie him to his bed so he didn't hurt himself.

The boy looked horrible, not just because someone went out of their way to cut his through his eye and probably permanently scar him but just his state in general. He looked malnourished to the point that his ribs were visible and his back and bum were filled with crisscrossed gashes and scars that it made her want to puke and cry, most of the other nurses did. One of the orderlies she got to know well punched a hole in the wall; he wanted to be a pediatrician so seeing something like this was his worst nightmare.

The hospital called the police and they started to investigation near immediately, nothing gets people more riled up then a hurt kid. They checked with the school that was near the spot he was found and asked them if they had a student matching his disruption. And they did, one Harry Potter.

The child's name struck her hard. This boy was more than just any boy, he was the Boy-Who-Lived! The child who somehow beat the most evil and greatest dark lord in centuries and was treated this way?! That couldn't be right, the Daily Prophet, the wizarding news paper, kept them all up to date on his movements and well being. But then she remembered a muggle term called Yellow Journalism, which pretty much meant they were making up stories to sell papers. That was just wrong, while everyone thought he was on some beach living the life he was really living through a torture of a childhood.

She should have been happy that the boy's "family" got arrested and were currently being held in jail, waiting for a trial which has enough evidence to put them in jail for a long time. But she couldn't, when investigating the home they opened the cupboard to find where they kept the boy. Some of the pictures got in the muggle papers and she had to go to the bathroom. They locked the poor child in there and made him crap in a bucket. They had him sleep in that cramped, dark space smelling nothing but his own feces. She worked in a hospital and saw many nasty and disgusting things but this was up there and then some. She honestly wondered how someone could even imagine doing that to a child.

She also wondered how you could treat one child so poorly and treat the other like he was a prince. She just put it up to them being sick, very sick people.

The investigation also landed a boy named Piers in the School for Incurable Criminal Boys. Apparently he was the one who cut poor Harry's eye, they even had three eyewitnesses saying that he and Harry's cousin made them hold Harry down so they could cut him.

Angela took it upon herself to make sure she was always assigned to Harry's room so she could keep an eye on the poor child. But that day was a strange one, on her way to check on him and change his IV pack she could hear an irritated groan ring from his room. When she opened the door she was welcomed by the sight of the five year old boy trying to bite his restraints off.

Noticing her coming in his single emerald green eye looked straight at her, looking in both curiosity and annoyance. There was no hint of worry just a kid who looked like he would be ready for an attack if not for the restraints. Slowly making her way over to show that she wasn't a threat she started to undo the restraints on the right side of his bed "Here let me help you with that."

The boy looked at her with some caution but allowed her undid his bind. After he was free he rubbed his wrist for a few moments "Thanks" he muttered before trying to take the bandages off his face.

"Hey don't do that."

"But I can't see with it on." He near whined but sounded more irritated than anything. This really wasn't how she expected the boy to act. She was thinking more of a hurt puppy than this. It wasn't that he seemed arrogant, just confident. "Can I please take it off." And was acting like an actual little kid.

She thought about what he asked, she knew the eye was damaged but it didn't end up that bad, she was going to heal it with her magic but she saw that his accidental magic was healing it already. The doctor said it was more the shock and malnutrition that caused the spasm, Harry would walk away with the ability see just as well as before. They just bandaged it incase to scab started to bleed again while he slept, but the last change was the day before, so it should be alright to take them off if only to replace them.

"Okay, hold still" She said placing one hand on his head to steady it as she pulled out a pair of scissors from her gown and started to cut through the bandages. After she cut through them Harry looked up at her and she suppressed a gasp.

"What?"

Instead of answering him verbally she walked out of the room for a moment and made sure no one saw her as she pulled out her wand and conjured a compact. When she walked in Harry had a slight irritated look on his face but the look disappeared when she held the compact's mirror up for him to see.

Looking straight back at him was a mismatched set of eyes. His left eye was his normal emerald green while the right one was a bloody ruby red. He brought his small hand up and traced the new addition to his scar, a straight line from the bottom of the lightning bolt leading a little passed his cheek bone.

He just stared at the mirror for a while, unsure how to react. He recognized the color of the eye, it was the same as Voldemort's before he abandoned the piece that is now a part of him. It was just another sign that he was neither Harry nor Voldemort anymore. He also noticed his features seemed… softer, probably the parts of Geneva shining through. He didn't know how to feel at the moment. Glad to be alive again, sad to take away so much from a child, excited from the chance of power, happy that they were all technically alive or be happy that "he" as in the him he is right now is alive.

Angela watched as Harry stared vacantly at the mirror while he stroked the new addition to his scar. She slowly closed it and told him she'd be back in a minute. She quickly walked down the hall and to the elevator, hoping that Dr. Miller was still in the cafeteria. Thankfully he was, in the same spot he sits every day, reading his news paper and sipping on some coffee.

She rushed up to him and informed him that Harry was awake. Dr. Miller dropped his paper and left his still hot cup of coffee where it was as he and Angela left the cafeteria and went to Harry's room. When they entered Harry was still on the bed looking deep in thought. Dr. Miller took the lead as they entered, taking the clipboard with Harry's information from the wall, and greeted the boy cheerily as he looked over the information. "Glad to see you up Harry, we were worried about you. I'm Doctor Miller, It's nice to meet you" he finishes his statement by extending his hand.

Harry shifted his mismatched gaze to the doctor looking and feeling a bit confused. Harry? Not Tom or Geneva? Well this is Harry's body might as well go with his name. "It's nice to meet you too, sir" he said as he took the man's hand and giving a firm shake. The last part of his greeting was hesitant but it felt like the right thing to say.

After shaking his hand the doctor took out some weird handled thing that shined a light in Harry's right eye. "Hmm, looks like a case of acquired Heterochromia." He held out his pointer finger "Follow my finger" Harry did his eyes focusing on the finger as the doctor moved it in various directions. "Other than the Heterochromia everything seems fine with his eye."

The doctor made a note on Harry's chart before returning to talk to him "So how are you feeling besides the eye."

Harry shrugged "Sore" he answered truthfully.

"Well that's to be expected, you've been asleep and restrained for about two weeks. We're going have to keep you here a while longer to see if there are anymore seizures or spasms." Seeing Harry trying to force his hand to stay still and not rip out the IV he let out a laugh "Here let me get that out for you, no need for it now since you can eat and drink on your own." As he took it off he also told him it was good he didn't rip it out since he might have injured his vein.

After removing the IV the doctor sat down and stayed quiet for a moment "Harry did Nurse Cutting tell you about your relatives yet?"

Harry gave a shake of his head as he reeled in some anger lingering from Geneva and sadness from the first Harry. "Well, your uncle and aunt have been arrested for child abuse and neglect. I'm sure you know why." Harry gave a nod, this time restraining satisfaction and again sorrow,

"Do you know who Social Services are?" getting a no from Harry he went on to say "They are some really nice people who are going to find you a place to stay, so you don't need to worry about going back to that place. They'll set you up with a nice foster family or an orphanage" as soon as orphanage left his mouth Harry started to panic. Flashes of Tom's childhood in a orphanage popped into his mind, the beatings, the reticule, and those times better left forgot.

"No! Please! Not the orphanage!" the two hospital staff were surprised by this response. Harry started to shake but they could tell he was trying to compose himself "Please, not an orphanage" The boy started to curse himself for showing weakness but another part said it was okay to show it sometimes. Doesn't mean he had to like it.

Angela looked at Dr. Miller with a look that clearly said 'What should we do?', the man didn't seem to notice as he slumped back into his hair. "We'll see what we can do about that Harry" that was a half truth, they could try and talk to social services and try to advice them not to put him into a orphanage but in the end it was out of their hands.

For the rest of the day Angela checked in on Harry as much as possible. As the day went one it seemed he went through stages of confused, sad, angry, or just held a blank expression as he stared at his open wall. She talked to the boy a few times as well and every time it seemed like he wasn't sure how he wanted to respond. He stuttered over his words like he had two first responses to her questions.

Even when she was with her other patients she would worry about the boy, same with her lunch breaks where her friends would constantly ask her what was wrong. She didn't outright tell them that she was worried about the boy, just a patient, but they seemed to know who she was talking about.

The next day some Social Service officers talked with Harry. During the time they talked with him Angela waited outside the door to be sure he was okay and could help when she thought she was need. From outside she could hear them informing Harry that there weren't any foster parents lined up or available at the moment so he would have to wait at the orphanage. She peaked in the room for a moment to see the boy's reaction and saw a look of pure horror on his face. She didn't understand his fear of the orphanage but it was all too obvious he didn't want to be at one.

She went through a small mental debate while the officers talked with Harry. She was making a decision that would affect the rest of her life and most defiantly Harry's. After firming her resolve she waited patiently for the officers to come out so she could talk to them. She knew she was going to get in a bit of trouble for just standing around but this was important.

After a few more minutes the two Social Workers walked out of the room, one man one woman both friendly looking people even in their business suits. She stepped in front of them on their way down the hallway. When they asked her how they could help her she gathered all the courage she could muster "Is it possible to put Harry in my care? I mean like a temporary foster care or something, the kid really doesn't want to go to an orphanage so it might be good, you know, until you find somewhere permanent." After the rushed statement she let out a breath and felt a little pride in herself for getting that out.

The female Social Worker seemed a bit uncomfortable "Ma'am, it's not that simple. You need to go through a psyche exam, we need to do a complete background check as well as seeing if you're home is good for the child…"

"Then do all that," Angela said gathering her courage again "Just let him stay with me while you're doing it."

The woman gave an unsure look at the man who seemed to be in deep thought. "Let us talk this over with the office and see what we can do, okay?" Angela gave a nod "Good. We'll try and give you the information you want by the end of the week." Angela gave another nod and bid them goodbye.

After they went down the hall Angela's back hit the wall and she let out a long breath "I'm defiantly no Griffindor." She huffed as she thought how she was going to get Harry to go along with it. It shouldn't be that hard, her or the orphanage. But did she want to tell him now and get his hopes up only for who ever worked up top to strike it down with a vengeance.

As she debated with herself the head nurse showed up and started to breath down her neck about skipping her rounds and how she had to fill in for her. She apologized, a lot, and went back to her rounds. The next three days passed slowly and as usual she managed to keep as much time as she could devoted to Harry. She was proud to say she was getting him out of his shell and it seemed he was more confident to answer questions, no longer confused on what to say.

But on third day the good news came. One of the social workers called her to tell her that as soon as Harry was cleared to leave the hospital she could take the five year old into her care. Now all that's left to do is break the good news to Harry but would he be happy with this? Sure she's seems like a better choice than the orphanage but would he be willing to live with a stranger, only one way to find out.

When the end of her shift came Angela made her way to Harry's room and gave a hesitant knock on the door. After hearing the boy's voice saying it was alright to come in she steeled her resolve and entered the room.

Harry took his attention away from the toys that Nurse Angelia gave him to pass the time, as much as part of him wished to deny it he had fun playing with them, when he heard a knock at the door. Telling the person that they could come in he was surprised to see a rather determined nurse enter the room, who was obviously off duty judging by her street cloths. He liked this nurse, maybe it was because she spent actual time with him or maybe it was because of how nice she was but he liked her all the same.

Harry smiled brightly at the nervous looking brunet as she pushed a bit of her brown hair behind her ear "Hello Angela," he said politely using her first name as she practically forced him to use "Everything alright?"

Angela shook her head still surprised by how mature the boy acted "No, everything's fine." She bit her lip and rubbed her arm like she was a child unsure what to do "Actually things are great if you look at it the right way, mostly if you look at it the right way."

The bi-colored eyed boy gave the woman a strange look before she her stance visibly changed to one of determination and she forced her blue eye to meet his "The Social Workers said that I could take you in after you get out of the hospital instead of going to an orphanage." She paused for a moment "That is if you want to. My apartment isn't that big and I have horrible hours from being a nurse and probally won't be around sometimes but my place should be big enough and I promise I'll take care of you the best I can. Again it's up to you but I hope you're willing to give it a try."

Harry froze in where he sat in his bed. The part of him that was Geneva practically backed down as the forces that were formerly Tom Riddle's and the first Harry Potter's emotions crashed foreword. Riddle made him feel flabbergasted and suspicious. He always wanted this chance as a child but to get it now was too good to be true, the original Tom wouldn't have trusted it. Harry's emotions were just as strange, they were scared and filled with hope. He didn't know if he wanted to grab the chance or not.

The current Harry shook his head, reminding himself he is no longer anyone of those three but all three at the same time someone different. He stared back at the nervous looking nurse who had been so kind to him since he's technically been alive and said "I would like that." He didn't realize it but he was crying, why? He could give a lot of reasons, Geneva being happy for Harry, Harry being Happy that he'll have a home he might not be scared of and Tom, well Tom wouldn't have been so much happy or sad, more like intrigued. But if you just asked him why he was crying he would just say joy "I would like that a lot."

**Not as long as the last chapter but hey I think it was good. Harry should be going to Hogwarts sometime between the fourth and sixth chapter. Could be wrong.**

**Just putting this here so there is no confusion. Harry, Geneva and the fragment of Voldemort are no more there is only Harry. The emotions I wrote down are the pounding memories of them and what they would do.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm just going to ask this because it's bugging the shit out of me, why are there so many damn harems on this site? It's probably the one thing I have a problem with, there's no heart behind the stories just some dude being lead by his lower head… or some really perverted girl that bends that way.**

**Also put your hopes up for chapter six for Hogwarts. I need to crush what all of you thought of Harry before reading this story so you can appreciate the chaos this Harry will bring.**

**Chapter three: Starting to grow**

Angela looked in disgust at what the social worker gave her on the day she was suppose to take Harry to her home. It was a small plastic bag that held a few sets of clothing, all ratty and obviously too big for the skinny boy. And getting a whiff of the smell coming from them she held the bag away from her, they smelled faintly of stale urine.

The social worker gave her a grim smile of understanding "Smells, pretty bad huh?" he said not even waiting for a nod "We tried to wash them a few times but the smell is too stained in. We brought another pair of clothes for him" he raised a second plastic bag in his hand "But we aren't too sure they'll fit."

Angela peered into the new bag offered to her; a pink shirt that looked like it might fit him if not a few sizes bigger, a brown denim jacket, and a pair of stretchy orange plaid sweat pants. She blanched at the choice, she may not be into fashion but she knew when something looked stupid. "Are you serious?"

The man shrugged "It right after Christmas time and you expect there to be a bunch of good clothes to fit the boy at the Salvation Army or any other charity? We're limited on funds and this is the vest we can do on short notice."

"Fair enough," Looking through the first bag again she asked "So this is all that he had? No toys or anything else."

"Ms. Cutting, there was never even a picture of the boy in that 'place' much less a toy that would belong to him. We could try and take some from that pile the other kid had at the home but I didn't want to deal with the kid's whining anymore, plus I don't think Harry would want anything from that place."

Angela nodded her head and looked down the hospital hallway, spotting a toxic waste bin and threw away the foul clothes from the first bag. "I think me and Harry will just go shopping before we go home." The man gave her a chuckle and then bid her goodbye saying that they'd be in touch.

The off duty nurse gave the bag of temporary clothes another disgusted look. "He'll have to deal with it."

Walking into her room she was slightly surprised to see the transformer and Snake Eyes toys she bought for Harry levitating in the air using jerky movements to have a slow fight. She was impressed by the show of control; well it can't be accidental magic if he's controlling it. If she remembered right people who could direct their accidental magic were going to turn into powerful wizards, not surprising considering who she was going to be taking care of. Plus if he already knew magic exists it made her life a whole hell of a lot easier.

"That's pretty cool Harry." She said announcing her presence into the room.

Harry's eye widened when he heard the voice and instantly dropped the toys he was playing with. Tom was able to do things when he was a child and since Harry was stronger than he was he wanted to see what he could do. It was hard to do but he was able to make the toys move, and it was rather fun actually. But he got too caught up in his playing that he didn't notice the muggle nurse walk in. Why was he so stupid? He knew muggles could walk in on him any second and here he was making his toys fight each other just because it was fun, not caring at all about the consequences. It was fun but so stupid, stupid, stupid.

He continued to berate himself about being caught but Angela spoke up "Oh, why did you stop? It was rather impressive, I was only able to turn my mom's hair orange and lift a few things in the air before I got my wand." Harry felt his jaw drop slightly. "What? Didn't think there were other people like you?"

Harry shook his head "No, I knew. There was a ghost who haunted a clock near my cupboard that told me. I think she moved on since I hadn't seen her in while." That was mostly the truth, he did learn that from her but she was still here.

"That's good. At least I don't have to explain me waving around a stick at my apartment to you." It was a half joke but she really wasn't looking forward to getting a dumb look from a five year old every time she pulled out her wand to do something. She handed him the bag of temporary clothes "I hope you don't mind but I got rid of your old clothes. They… weren't the best. Anyway here are some temporary clothes the social worker gave me"

Harry looked at the clothes and made a face. Seeing the face Angela spoke up again "Yeah, I know. Anyone with even a tiny bit of fashion sense would hate it too. Don't worry we're going shopping right after this."

"You really don't have to."

"Yes I do. You need clothes and I made a good bit of money of money over the years. So don't worry about it." She said the last sentence with a smug 'I'm not changing my mind' look.

Harry thought of a way to argue but he couldn't. What she said made perfect sense and he really didn't want to argue when she was making that face. "Okay but could you at least change the color of the clothes? I mean you can do magic so it should be easy, right?"

Angela looked sheepish at this "Um, I kind of suck at clothes related spells, actually at suck at most things that aren't medical related. It's the only thing I've ever really studied enough." Her expression turned to one of pride in a second as she mentioned that she did get all Es and Os on some test called the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. Harry felt a little familiarity with the terms from Tom's memories but he found the blocks started in the middle of Tom's third year and when Geneva turned fourteen with a few scattered memories after said lines. Anyway he could only guess the grades were good from her expression.

Harry stared at his clothes a second time and twisted his face. Angela gave a sigh and pulled out her wand "I can try to change the color but changing the color of a wall and a shirt are very different." She flicked her wand and said something in Latin. The clothes started to bleed into a darker shade of pink that could easily be confused for red, except for the one still pink spot near his armpit.

"Okay, that should do for now. Now hurry up and get dressed so we can go get you some real clothes." Harry stared at her for a second "What? I'm a nurse. You got nothing I've never seen before."

Harry gave her a flat look, admitting she was right but no.

"Fine, I'll be outside. Tell me when you're done." After the brunette left the room Harry looked back into the bag and vaguely thought he'd miss wearing his dresses. He knew it sounded disturbing but part of him was raised female, so that part grew to enjoy wearing a dress. But now that he was male a certain pride kicked in saying he wouldn't be caught dead in a dress or any variation of one.

He blanched at the sight of the pink shirt. "Way too damn bright." Putting aside his wish for darker colors or at least a better style he put on the clothes. He did admit that he liked the jacket, too bad it was a size too small. After grabbing his two new toys off the floor he headed out the door.

Down the hall he found Angela talking to one of her co-workers at the desk. Walking up to her he noticed a smile growing on her face, albeit a nervous one. "Ready to go?" Harry gave her a short nod and she gave her goodbyes to her fellow nurse, who gave Harry a funny look, one he put off to hid outfit.

Walking out into the parking lot Angela guided Harry over to a bright yellow punch buggy that was in need of a wash. Opening the passenger door Angela ushered him into the seat while she moved to the other side and took her seat. After making sure he was secure in his seat she drove off the hospital property and started to drive to the nearest clothing store.

Parking the buggy in one of the open spaces of the lot Angela laid down a few ground rules for being in the store "Okay Harry, while we're in here I want you to stay close, okay?" Harry gave a nod "Alright, good." She said seeming somewhat confused on how to go about things and strummed her fingers on the wheel. "Also, don't be afraid to pick out what you want. It's your clothes after all. I'm just here to help pick some stuff out. Okay that should be about it, oh and leave your toys here. I don't want you to lose them in the store."

Harry gave a look at his two toys and then nodded at Angela, placing the toys on the ground the two of them left the car and walked into the store. The store wasn't big but it had a good selection of clothes to go through. Heading towards the children's section for boys she picked five random pairs of pants like her mother did with her. "Okay Harry, try these on and tell me what fits best."

Harry gave her a shrug and started to pull down his pants "Wait not here. Jeez shy in a hospital room with just the two of us but you're willing to drop your pants in public." She mumbled as she brought him over to the changing rooms and knocked on a few doors until she found an empty one "Okay change try them on in here and tell me which one feels the best. After that we'll know what size to get you."

He gave her a nod and went into the changing room. Not even five minutes later he came out wearing the pair that fit the best and refused to put the sweats back on. "Fine, just keep the tag so we don't get yelled at for stealing."

The two shopped around and ended up getting Harry twelve shirts and eight pants, mostly dark blues and a few white Ts. When they were getting checked out Angela noticed the clerk staring at Harry with a disturbed look on her face, she also noticed Harry tried to stand straighter but was subconsciously inching towards Angela. The nurse gave a slight growl of irritation that got the clerks attention. Angela gave her the best 'I'm both pissed and disgusted at you' look along with mouthing "What the hell is wrong with you?"

The woman had enough sense to look ashamed but that didn't stop Angela from glaring at her. "Thank you for shopping with us."

"Yeah, sure." Angela didn't hide the venom in her voice as she guided Harry out the store and into the car. "You okay Harry?"

"Yeah, just didn't like being stared at." Angela gave him a sad look but did nothing more, not wanting to find where the line was drawn.

"Don't be bothered by it, she was just a moron" but it did bother him, not meaning to sound vein but he was seen as attractive both as Tom and as Geneva so being stared at like he was some sort of freak was… a bit disorienting. By Geneva's opinion Harry would have been a handsome young man when he grew up but that Harry didn't have a scar through his eye or two different color eyes.

The two drove in silence for maybe twenty minutes until Angela parked them inside of a decent looking apartment building. "Well, here we are." She said without a care as she turned to her backseat and grabbed the bags from the store. "Come on"

After grabbing his toys of the floor Harry followed Angela up three flights of stairs, two floors below the top, and came to the door five in, room number 305. She shifted the bags in her hand so she could get a better hold of her keys to open the door.

The apartment wasn't much, like she said but it seemed like it would be fine. A small kitchen connected into what would be assumed as a living room with a table in it, both taking up what looked like a single room. There were three doors on the side of the walls, two on the right and one on the left. There was a sliding glass door at the end of the living room leading to a small terrace.

Angela walked over to one of the doors on the right and opens the one closest to the terrace. "This used to be my roommate's room. She left to go live with her boyfriend across town some six months ago. I was looking for a new apartment. Because why would I need two bedrooms." Or pay for them "But it's a pain to look for a new place" and no one's responded to the 'roommate wanted' ads "But that doesn't matter now. Count this as your room for now on."

Harry gave Angela a strange look as she paused in some of her sentences like she had something else to say on the subject but shifted his attention to what she had dubbed as 'his room'. The walls looked plain save for the two that had a window or closet. He raised his eyebrow at the fact he had no bed in there "Ah, crap. I forgot she took that too… don't see why since she's sleeping with the guy." The last part she whispered but Harry heard it and mentally laughed. "I guess you can use the closet at least. Do you mind sleeping on the coach till we can get you a bed?"

"It's fine. I really don't need much." Which was true, this body was used to sleeping in a cupboard, not exactly a tight fit for his size but it wasn't a comfortable one. But this body got used to it and could probably deal with sleeping in the closet that she was placing clothes in.

"Okay then" She said as she finished hanging everything on the lower bar of the closet, she never got why people would bother having one bar for shirts and the other for pants but hey Harry could reach the lower bar so it worked for her. "It almost dinner time, so what do you want to eat."

"Something other than hospital food, it's nasty." That got a small snort from Angela, but in truth hospital food was some of the best food Harry has had, Tom and Geneva had much, much better. Especially Geneva, the food she had eaten was so, so, good. The glories of homemade food, though Tom's memory's had some very closest seconds in the school he would be going to in a few years, Hogwarts. But then again Geneva went to a school called Beauxbatons, and there was something called the Triwizard Tournament Geneva could remember where both schools competed with another school called Durmstrang. So he might end up at one of the other two. Maybe somewhere else, Tom remembered some lesser schools in the country and even a few major ones off the continent.

Anyway that was a few years off, so he didn't need to worry about it right now, but he did have a preference for Hogwarts, home country and all that.

"How about Pizza? There's this place not too far away hat delivers and makes the best sausage pizza I've ever had." Harry never had pizza before in any of his lives but he found himself loving it from the first bite. He also found that Angela was right and he shouldn't have tried to eat so much of it. Angela also introduced him to television, while he caught a few glimpses while he was at the Dursley's he never got to enjoy it but he found that it could be quite enjoyable as long as he didn't stare at the screen in lengths. After the credits to a musical called Grease came up Harry let out a small yawn that he tried to hide but Angela caught it.

"I think it's time for bed. And don't try to argue, its past nine o'clock and your five. You should've been in bed by now." Ignoring Harry's pleading eyes, hard to do even with the dual colored eyes, she set up the coach for him to sleep in. Pausing as she softened up the pillows she turned to the boy "You know I could take the couch for a while, just until we got you a bed."

"It's fine. Besides this probably isn't permanent, right? So there is no real reason to get me a bed." Angela felt a twinge of guilt there and wasn't sure how she could respond to the claim. What he said might be true but putting it so bluntly seemed… cruel.

"Well, I'm over there if you need me." She said gesturing over to her open bedroom door. Standing silent for a moment she made a hesitant movement and kissed him lightly on the forehead "Good night Harry."

After hearing her door close Harry rubbed the part of his forehead that she kissed and gave a small smile as he shifted himself to a comfortable spot on the coach.

The next morning Harry woke up to the sound of something sizzling. Groggily rubbing the part of his cheek with the scar he started to wake up. Every morning he felt more, complete, whole, either way it was like he had less emotions to sort through and was more like him and not Harry, Tom and Geneva, just Harry. He liked being just him and it felt like he was just him now with a few stray feelings going around, like Ton's paranoia about being in an unfamiliar place with a strange sound coming from nearby telling him to summon whatever magic he can use and toss it at the sound.

Pushing the worry aside Harry gave a few stretches and a yawn when he heard, "Good morning sleepyhead."

Turning around, feeling slightly on edge, Harry saw Angela by the stove scrabbling some eggs in a pan. "Hope you like eggs. It's one of the few breakfast foods I can make. That and bacon, don't even ask for black pudding because that stuff isn't aloud within twenty feet of this kitchen." Harry remembered black pudding from Tom, he didn't like it much either so it was no big deal.

Harry could read body language pretty well because of his past lives and he could easily tell Angela was trying to do her best to seem welcoming even if she herself was uncomfortable and nervous about this whole situation. She hid it pretty well which probably meant she genuinely wanted him there, but the biting of the lip was too obvious of a sign.

"Thank you," he said as a plate of scrambled eggs was put before him "Oh, and good morning."

The woman beamed at him as she took a seat at the mini table across from him. After taking in a few mouthfuls of egg she started to speak "Okay, I managed to squeeze out a few days off from work to help you get used to the apartment and the town. So how about a short tour around town?"

Harry gave her a nod and the old instincts of doing chores at the Dursley's kicked in as he started collecting the plates and dishes "What are you doing?"

"The dishes?" he asked innocently, all three of his past lives washed the dishes, and as much as Tom would hate to admit it, it was usually his chore at the orphanage.

"Uh huh," Angela picked up her wand and did a swish. All the dishes in the room gave a feint glow before they all stared to move through the air and towards the sink where the faucet turned itself on and filled the sink as soap poured itself in. The sponge hanging on the counter went to work as the dished landed in the soapy water, scrubbing off all the filth before passing it over to the drying cloth. She may like to a lot of things the muggle way but she was raised by a pureblood and hated to do the dishes "Now you're not, go get ready and we'll leave."

Harry gave her a big smile before hurrying to grab his clothes and brush his teeth. He was a bit ashamed of himself for acting like such a kid but he was a kid, technically. At least he wasn't asking twenty questions a minute.

After Harry brushed his teeth and put on a dark blue sweater and slacks he ran towards Angela saying he was ready. Again he felt a twinge of self disgust from acting like such a child.

The town where Angela lived wasn't that big but it wasn't small either. It had a few supermarkets, a cinema, loads of restaurants and schools. Angela pointed to one school and said she was working to get him into that one in a few days. Harry felt a quick jolt of nervousness about going to school again, especially after his last visit to one, but that emotion was quick shot down by confidence in being able to take care of himself.

The end of the tour had them going into the supermarket to pick up groceries, she was stocked for a single female bordering on a diet not that plus a malnourished child. She told him to stay close to the cart at all times and he just gave her his little head no, she briefly wondered if kids were suppose to act so indifferent and spaced.

She picked up some fruit and vitamins, she knew that he needed as many calories as possible to get him back to proper health hence the amount of eggs this morning but he needed vitamins too. She made a mental note to herself to order a few protein potions, having too many is not a good idea but one or two a week wouldn't hurt and should get him to the proper weight for his age in about half a year.

She nearly laughed at Harry trying to restrain himself from the candy isle but stopped when she thought he might have never had candy before. "Go ahead and grab something. Just one thing though."

Harry gave her a bright smile "Thanks m… Angela." As Harry rushed off Angela blinked and felt her heart flutter. Did he almost call her mom?

She shook herself out of the short funk when Harry came back with a small bag of Skittles. While they continued shopping Angela noticed the stares Harry was getting. It may have been how skinny he was, sure he put on a little weight at the hospital from having some actual food but he was still a twig. But that thought was destroyed when she saw all their eyes trailing to his scar and eyes. Harry put on very good bravado but standing straight and having his chest out in pride but like earlier the child inched closer to her ever so slightly. Angela sent as furious of glares as she could manage to every adult she saw staring, she didn't blame the kids but the parents should know better.

An idea hit her as they passed a stand of sunglasses at the front of the isle with the juice. Backtracking a bit she picked up the first pair she saw and examined them before putting them back. After two or three times of this Harry was going to ask her what the hell she was doing.

As he opened his mouth for his question she quick placed a pair of solid black sunglasses on his face. They were a bit bulky on his face but they hid a good deal of the scar above his eyebrow and a little bit of the part of the scar that went to his cheekbone. To Angela it was cute and a bit comical, plus it did its general purpose of hiding his eyes. Even if it didn't do that she might have bought them anyway.

If Harry didn't have the dark lenses on his face Angela would have noticed the strange look on his face "Why did you put these on me?" his voice sounding irritated but carried that child like curiosity one would expect from a five year old.

"They should help stop people from staring at you and the only ones who would stare now would just be curious why you're wearing sunglasses."

It irritated Harry that his thought process seemed slower than it should be for a person his age, wait, still five, that would explain it. Thinking it over in what Angela dubbed an 'adorable expression' he agreed with her. Plus they made him feel cool.

The rest of the week went pretty well. Angela managed to get Harry into the local school and would be attending in a few days. She still had to go work but managed to get the hours of when Harry was sleeping so she could spend time with him, even if she was tired beyond belief. On one occasion she took him to work because she thought the daycare could watch him. But he managed to escape and wonder around the hospital before she found him after finding he escaped. Many of her fellow employees would come and say hi to him as barely anyone other than Angela got to see him while he was here. The magical people on the staff were still stunned by the fact they were actually meeting Harry Potter.

Angela especially enjoyed one night when she was watching a movie with Harry and the little guy fell asleep half way through it. His head had slid into her lap where she could smile at the cute sleeping face he made and stroke his hair. It was starting to get longer, not much but enough that the weight was starting to tame the wild hair. She nearly squealed as he snuggled his head in her lap, making her wish all the more she could summon her camera without a wand.

During the following days Angela had made an emergency stop to Diagon Alley to pick up a few books on accidental magic and magic of children. Harry's magic seemed a bit too strong even considering who he was and it worried her that it might be hurting him somehow, especially the time he started growing hair on his arms. But all the books just gave examples of what happens commonly and how to help the child through it, so they were near useless. At least Harry could direct it which like she thought meant a strong wizard but it also meant stronger reactions when he didn't. If all else failed she would have to send an owl she really didn't want to send, one to her mother.

On Harry's first day Angela went with him to meet the teacher, something Harry found incredibly embarrassing. Not only was he the new kid but he was the guy that had to have his mom walk him into the classroom with him. She stayed ten minutes more then she needed, not sure if she should leave or not. Even though she warned the staff about Harry and his previous home she was still worried they might do something to send him back to those bad times.

Harry found he could enjoy the classes now that he didn't need to worry about Dudley and his family. The memories from Tom and Geneva helped a lot in math but he found Geneva's memories on math were so backed logged he wouldn't be able to use them in two years or less to help in the subject. The other subjects seemed new to Harry as Tom only had his magic education and the schooling system of a thirties orphanage to rely on while Geneva was self taught but that was a few hundred years ago.

Gym class proved to go worse than he figured, despite Angela's and the teacher's warnings he decided to play. His body had never been in good shape but it seemed his time in the hospital only gone and made him worse. When he told Angela and she got over her initial worrying she laughed at his dismay.

As spring neared Harry and Angela continued to get closer and closer. Angela was quite pleased with the mom slips Harry kept on having. In late-February Angela said or rather asked something that Harry really wasn't expecting. "I want to adopt you Harry". Honestly Harry always thought that this whole set up was temporary and that he wasn't expecting to be there very long.

Harry just froze when she said this and when his head reeled back in shock his bulky sunglasses fell off his face and swung from his ears. Angela didn't know whether this reaction was good or not so she went up to him and bent down on her knees. "It's up to you but I would really like to be your Mum."

The boy stared at her with his red and green eyes with the expression Angela got so used to, the one where he was trying to hide his emotions but couldn't pull it off right. There was always the lip twitches into a smile, the scrunching of his nose when he doesn't want to be rude, and right now how he was trying to hold in his tears and was restraining himself from the open wails known for kids his age.

Harry would love the idea of her being his mom but he didn't know if she would truly love him or want him. Would and could she really love a soul that was near a total of near five hundred year old the resided inside of a child's body, especially when part of that soul was part of such a cruel man. Could she really take him as her child?

And did she truly want him or was this some sort of trick to get something out of him? No it wasn't that, Harry could tell her body language she wasn't faking how she felt towards him, she really wanted him as her son. Then again he didn't have to tell her but did he really want to keep something like this secret from her, and if he did how long could he and would she ever forgive him for not telling her?

Gathering up more courage than Tom or Geneva ever had or even knew was possible Harry gave his answer not giving the consequences another thought "I would love that…" taking in a breath he said a word he wanted to say out loud for as long as he could remember in two lives "Mum."

Angela pressed him into a hug and let out unashamed tears slide down her face, unlike her soon to be son who was still trying to hold them in.

A month's work of paperwork hell later Harry was officially the son of Angela Cutting. Although she had him keep his last name, she felt she was taking too much from his parents already and did not want to disrespect the dead. Maybe someday she would do that double last name thing but that could wait till he was ready to take it, she really didn't want to rush thing more than they already are. But just because they didn't share the same name didn't mean she didn't love her new son and if anyone said otherwise would find themselves in her wing of the hospital receiving her special brand of care.

Little less than a week after the adoption Angela wrote a letter to her parents, figuring they disserved to know they had a grandson and could use their advice in raising a child. She instantly vetoed a phone call as she didn't want to get caught in her mother's rambling and worrying or her father's insistence that she moved back in. They were both worry warts in her book, she loved them to death but they could be so annoying. She wanted to be independent not some stuck up little girl living under mommy and daddy's dollar.

During that month their hospital had a guest that all five magical workers of the building were very familiar with, just not in this setting. Their former Headmaster Albus Dumbledore had come into the hospital wearing what he assumed to be normal muggle attire, would have been, about three decades ago. His blue eyes seemed to scan the hospital corridors looking for someone familiar, probably knowing full well that this hospital was going through the St. Mungo's program. Spotting Angela and three of her other program mates staring blankly at him he let out a smile and walked over. Angela absently noticed how much longer his beard had gotten since she graduated Hogwarts, it was now at his waist instead of mid stomach.

One of Angela's fellow program colleagues was sputtering over himself as their ex professor made his way over to them "H-headmaster? What are you doing here?"

The aged teacher smiled at the man and had a slight twinkle in his eye "Ah, Mister Smith. It has been a while. But pleasantries aside, I am here looking for information on a young friends of ours that might have stayed here."

Angela instantly knew who he was talking about but how he knew was a mystery. Both St. Mungo's and her hospital took great lengths to hide where he was from the media and the public. A little boy living through so much was big news in the muggle world and even bigger news in the magical because it was Harry. And because they were doctors and healers they worried more about the health of the little boy than they cared what the media knew.

"And who might that be professor?" Angela asked making her presence known to the old man.

The old man smiled at her in greeting "Hello miss Cutting, it has been a while," Angela nodded in agreement "I am looking for information on one mister Harry James Potter."

"I am sorry, sir. But both by the Healers code and Doctor-patient confidentiality we cannot tell you a thing."

"But surely you can tell me where he is currently? It is a matter of the utmost importance that I know where he is." Angela bristled at this, why would Dumbledore be worried now and not when that horrid family was torturing her little Harry?

Reigning in all hostile thoughts she asked "And why is it so important that you know where he is sir?" Her co-workers looked set back for a second seeing her question their ex-headmaster but after realizing who the two were talking about they wouldn't be surprised if she punched the man square in the jaw if he said anything stupid about her son.

"For his safety of course," Angela narrowed her eyes at the comment and squeezed her hands tight. Why does he worry now, why do anything now?

"Well sir, I am sorry but we cannot tell you anything if you aren't his guardian or family."

"Surely you can make an exception this one time?" Angela was about to say something but stopped when she felt something graze the top of her occlumency barriers. She'll be the first to admit hers weren't the best in the world but they were good enough to past the Healers exam. Every Healer needs to pass the occlumency test so they can keep patient confidentiality against the nosey users of legilimency magic. They didn't need to be air tight just strong enough to push back most and be able to report it to the Aurors.

But the graze was ever so light that she wasn't even sure it was really there but she made sure she wasn't looking the man in the eyes for the remainder of the time he was there. "No exceptions for anyone sir. Is there anything else we can help you with?" she kept her eyes glued to his twisted nose.

Dumbledore stayed quiet for a second and looked over his former students before shaking his head no and walking away with giving them all a good natured farewell. After watching him leave through the door and hearing a soft crack Angela turned to her coworkers "If anyone of you says anything about Harry and I find out, your dead."

From working in a hospital for so long they all learned a simple rule: Don't ever anger a mother. Then adding the fact it was Angela going on mothering instincts they were not about to cross her for anything, even Dumbledore.

**My betas did check this over but I changed a few things so don't blame them. I don't have the proper names to my two new betas but on the Xadro forum where I found them they are called Pjokstr and Selonianth.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Wow, I got like nothing to say here…. Oh well enjoy the chapter, I'm going unbeta'd (is that a word?) in this chapter to see how bad I did. Please be honest I want to improve.**

**Chapter four: Family Starts**

Harry's head bobbed up and down as he tried to stay awake in the teacher's class. His mom let him stay up to finish watching a movie with her the other night and a five year old was not meant to go to bed at ten. He cracked his neck hoping the pop could wake him up a bit. It didn't but it got the attention of the rest of the class, earning himself some 'ewww's and 'awesome's from his peers.

Harry just shrugged off the comments and tried to pay attention to the teacher's lesson; wishing nap time would come already. They had a sub today, one that was particularly annoying because he kept on giving Harry annoyed sideways glances. He'd bet a few pounds that it was because of his sunglasses more than anything else.

The little boy's mind started to wander away from the talk of the dead kings, he didn't really care for history considering part of him saw the real version and not this sugar coated crap the shove down their throats. He started to think about some of the recent memories he got from Geneva that were leaking through. It wasn't clear events just practice and feelings. How she focused inside herself and found something, something that was a part of her but was separate for all that time. She dragged whatever it was to the surface and let it blend with who she was.

He's been trying to do the same thing lately, he wasn't sure what it was right now but it felt like he should do it. When he first tried doing this hair started to grow up along his arms and part of his back. He was sure if he pushed and dragged a little bit more he'd find what he was looking for, it was a little like while he was searching whatever he was looking for was calling out to him at the same time.

As his thoughts drifted off his forehead had finally met the top of the desk, making a loud thud that once again gained the class's attention. The sub let out an annoyed sigh but let the boy sleep. He was told not to push the boy with sunglasses too far by the staff of the school, something about a rough past, and he didn't want to get the brunt of principles wrath for yelling at him for sleeping in class.

Back at the Hospital Angela was having a meal that could have counted as any of the three meals depending on what shift they were on with some her workmates. She was stressing a little since it has been nearly a week since she sent the letter to her parents and she still hasn't gotten a reply. Even if the owl was flying slow and was taking the long route it should have gotten there a few days ago. Doing her best to banish the stress from her mind she turned to her friend who addressed her.

"What?"

"I asked how Harry was."

Angela visibly brightened at the mention of her new son "He's doing good. He seems less confused than he used to be and he's gained a stone, just a little more and he'll meet the average for his age and height."

Jim the orderly smiled at this "That's good. Still wish I could have gotten a swing at the people who did that to him"

"Don't you still need to pay for the wall you punched in?"

"Still not sure if that was worth it or not. Anyway, you should have Harry sign up for a sport or something. The exercise should help his body recover better, as long as he doesn't push himself too much."

Angela shifted in her chair. She knew he made a valid point but she didn't want to risk Harry hurting himself. He still looked so fragile and he may have gained weight but his ribs were still scarily visible. But sports would help with that, or strain his body to the break if he pushes to hard and knowing Harry he probably would.

"How about you sign him up for a martial art?" one of the nurses sitting next to her suggested "Don't most of them take it slow in the beginning? So he could adapt to it, besides most kids love the stuff because of that Bruce lee and Jackie Chan junk."

Angela's eyes narrowed and her voice became dangerous "Let me see if I understand you right. You want me to send my abused and neglected son to a place where he'd get hit on… purpose?"

Seeing that look on Angela's face the woman instantly tried to correct herself "its self defense so he might not need to fight at all. And like I said they build the kids up."

Angela reigned herself in. She made a very valid point and Harry would need to know how to defend himself in the future just because he was Harry Potter. Using a muggle means of fighting would throw people off and many don't know what to do when their opponent gets close enough to slug them. "Okay, I'll admit it's a good idea" Angela turned to Jim "Don't you do something like that Jim. Muay something?"

Jim coughed out some of the food he was eating and pounded his chest to regain his breath before waving his hands out in front of him "Whoa, you defiantly don't want Harry studying what I am."

"And why not?"

"Besides the fact that the owner of my place is a slave driver every time I go? I don't study a sport, I study a "martial" art, as in a war art. Not meant for kids."

"But I see kids practicing Karate and stuff like that in those… gyms in London and in town." The male nurse sitting with them pointed out

"That's different. This is some brutal stuff, sure they teach the sport version there but they also teach the original version they used to kill during wars, back when everyone used spears and swords. And that's not something you want in the hands of a kid."

"Couldn't they just teach him the sports version? And I'd feel a lot better if he went somewhere where I knew someone." Angela paused for a moment just realizing something "That is if I get him to agree."

"Sure but after what Harry's been through I don't think he's going to take anything lying down and I'm a little worried he'd used what he learns on somebody." Jim liked martial arts and he loved sharing his love of it with other people but he often worried more about kids than their parents do. She never noticed it before but that's really annoying when you're a parent.

"Let me worry about that. And I doubt he'd do that, he's more likely to mess with their heads than bash them in." Most people at the table nodded their heads. Harry loved to mess with people, if he did on purpose or not was still a question.

Angela took one last gulp of her coffee before she exited her car and waited for her son to walk out the doors of the school. She's been up since three o'clock that morning running her hours and could use a good nap. But she needed to pick Harry up, a task she actually willing to lose sleep over. She was still a little disappointed with herself that she had to have a friend drop Harry off instead of her, not that it mattered now it was just the principle of the thing.

Letting out a yawn she caught sight of her son coming out of the school casually talking to a small group of kids about something. She smiled at seeing him enjoying himself but made a slight mental note to take him to a barber, his hair was getting a bit long for a boy.

When Harry spotted his mother he said goodbye to his classmates and ran over to her. "Hey mum!" It was so cute to see how hard he tried not to show how excited he was to see her.

"Hey Harry," she said bending down to meet his eye level "How was school?"

"It was okay. I just think I shouldn't stay up that late again. I almost fell asleep in class a bunch of times."

Angela laughed at him. It was his own damn fault, she wanted to stop the movie and tuck him into his new bed but he had to pull out his damn puppy eyes. He perfected it and could get near anything from Angela when he pulled it out, she thanked just about everything he didn't use it often.

"Well we'll have to make sure that never happens again. Which means you go to bed at your bedtime from now on, got it." Harry let out a groan and slid down his sunglasses to give her the puppy dog eyes. Angela cursed to herself thinking only little girls could pull off that face "Maybe an hour later if you good" Harry adjusted his glasses and gave a victorious grin. While they walked back to the car Harry heard her mutter something about cheeky brats.

As they started to drive off the school lot Angela asked what else happened at school besides falling asleep. "Nothing much, most of the classes were boring as usual and some kids tried getting me to take off my glasses again."

Angela's face made a small frown "Harry, you do know you can't wear them all the time, right?"

"I know but… I don't like people staring at me like that. It's annoying. And uncomfortable" He muttered the last part but Angela heard it and nodded in understanding. A lot of her patients have shame over their scars, especially when they are in plain sight or on their face. Many of them get over it but it takes a while. Best not push the issue, for now.

It took less than ten minutes to get to the apartment building to his school, something Angela was happy about since it was also close to her job. As the two of them walked to their apartment Angela picked up the mail from their box at the front. "Bills, junk, ad," she said as she flipped through the mail as she walked forward, Harry walking in front of her so she doesn't fall on her face like before. At the sixth piece of mail she got a surprise, it was her parent's letter, sent through the muggle post! Her mother most have finally listened to her when she told her to stop sending owls, sure they were quicker but when one flies through an open window into a hospital there's trouble.

She was also a bit surprised that it was actually her father writing this, he was more of a guy that feels he must talk to everyone face to face not a note type of guy. But the reason why her mother wasn't writing the letter made her laugh openly. The woman planned on spoiling Harry rotten as soon as he stepped foot in their home. She was probably going to try and have them stay at their home from now on and move out of the apartment just so she could do it every day. Angela did doubt that Harry would enjoy a room filled with toys; he was too busy playing with the ones he did have to even give anything else a second glance.

At the very end of the letter there was a P.S. from her mother saying how proud that she was doing this for a child and then she near demanded that they come over as soon as possible. Angela thought about it and it was a good idea. They could go this weekend since she convinced her boss to give them to her to be with her son, they usually wouldn't do that for someone who worked there as short of a time as Angela but most people knew that she adopted the little boy who came in critical care and understood he needed as much care as possible, they just stacked her hours during the week.

She stopped moving when Harry pushed against her preventing her from hitting their door. She gives a brief confused look before unlocking the door. Angela plops down on the coach tossing the mail on the coffee table in front of her with Harry plopping down next to her where he let out a contagious yawn. "Don't do that, I'm about to fall over and you're going to yawn at me?" Harry gave her a cheeky lop sided grin and opened his mouth to do another one just to mess with her only to have his mouth covered by his mother's hand "None of that now." She could feel Harry smirk from underhand and she rolled her eyes at him.

"So how do you feel about a weekend trip?" Angela asked after taking her hand off his mouth not wanting to risk being licked.

"To where?"

"To Norfolk. My parents want to meet their grandson."

Harry gave her a strange look. Like he was thinking it over barely showing signs of confusion, 'he's getting much better' Angela thought as he just sat there and watched.

"Why?"

"Because you're family."

"But I'm adopted"

"Like that matters. You're my son and guess what, you're going."

"I didn't say I would!"

"I took the your "why?" and assumed it was a "why not?"."

Harry gave a grumble than a yawn causing Angela to stand up and tug his hand "C'mon, it looks like both of us need a nap." Harry gave a tired nod and followed his mom to her bedroom and crawled under the covers. He didn't think he was too old to be sleeping in the same bed as his mom so he wasn't ashamed, besides it felt good to snuggle up to her. This body hasn't had much positive human contact so it craved it every once in a while, something Angela understood and didn't mind since he looked so cute when he was asleep.

As the days of the week trickled passed Harry got more and more nervous. He was more fidgety than usual and seemed to stare off for a bit as he played. As always he tried to hide his emotions, tried acting calm but Angela even only knowing him for the maybe three months knew how to read him like a guide for the dummies. She understood why he was nervous she just didn't get why he still acted so guarded. Sure she got him to let it down a little around her but it was still there holding strong. But she guessed only time would help with that.

"Harry, are you ready?" she called fastening a small muggle back pack slightly expanded to hold enough stuff for her and Harry for the weekend.

"Yeah" he said almost nonchalantly holding his two toys in hand, sunglasses secured to his face and a smile directed towards his mom.

"Good. Now this is going to feel horrible but please deal with it." Harry was about to ask what she was talking about when she placed her hand on his shoulder but couldn't get the words out as his world started to spin and stretch. He let out a pained yelp as it felt like his whole body was being forced through a very thin very thick pipe or tube.

The sensation of reentering normal space wasn't pleasant either. His body quickly expanding from such a thin state, body parts snapping back into place and his stomach lurching like a car gave a sudden stop at high speeds. He could barely keep his footing as the touched down and nearly fell to his knees in his first few steps.

"You okay sweetie?" Angela asked trying to help her son regain his balance by placing her hands on his shoulders.

Harry gave a short nod before shaking his head to get his senses back. He remembered that, it was called apparatition. It was just a theory back in Geneva's day, a way of near instant transportation from point A to point B, but Tom used it regularly, you get used to it but it's always an unpleasant experience no matter how used to it you are. "More of a warning next time please."

She gave him a smile "You did much better than most people do their first time. I lost my lunch during my first apparatition."

"Then why do this to me?"

"It's quick. Next time we'll do portkey or something else, okay?" Harry nodded his head, he really didn't mind, just wanted a warning.

Looking around him he took in the landscape they landed in. It like they were in a large garden kept in the best of conditions. The bushes were trimmed to near perfection, various flowers were arranged in appealing ways and the grass was cut short and orderly. In the middle of this garden was a moderate sized white manor or mansion depending how one would describe either. Despite it being the size of a small hotel it still looked like only top class people would live there.

"So, mom?"

"Yeah?"

"You grew up here?"

"Yep, pretty cool huh?" She said smiling at her adopted child.

"Yeah, but…" he trailed as he looked away from the building to her, bicolor eyes looking at her curiously "why do we live in an apartment if we can live in a place like this?"

"Uh, well, the thing is I don't like depending on my mom and dad too much…" she said not really finishing the sentence hoping the kid would get it.

"Why?" apparently not

"Because I don't think it's good to relying off your parents for too long"

"Why?" he asked trying not to show how much he was enjoying this.

"Because I would get dependant on them and wouldn't be able to do anything on my own."

"Why?"

"Because people need to learn to be self reliant." Angela started to rub her temples, this was getting very annoying. And if she had to guess he was doing it on purpose just to mess with her, again. "Anymore 'why?'s or can we go in?"

"I think I'm alright, for now." Angela rolled her eyes before offering her hand to the five year old and the two walked to the front door. She didn't even bother knocking as she swung the door open and called out into the large foyer.

"Mum, Dad! We're here!" Harry was having his doubts that his mom came from money if she was acting like this.

After a few seconds Angela called again, sounding playful as she did this.

"I hear you dear there is no need to keep that up. Your setting a bad example." A woman said as she descended down the stairs in front of them.

"Not really. Harry's already a lovable annoying bugger so it won't affect him."

The woman just shook her head as she reached her daughter and gave her a hug. "It's good to see you again Angie." She said in loving motherly tone that combined with her daughter's nickname made said woman blush.

"It's good to see you too mom." She said returning the hug before stepping back a bit "And let me introduce you to your new grandson, Harry." As she finished he sentence she practically dragged Harry from his hiding spot behind her leg to be in front of her.

Angela's mother smiled down at him before bending down at the knees to get a better look at him and at the same time giving him a better look at her. He could see the bits of her that she gave to his mother but they weren't clones of each other, she did get the blue eyes from her though but this woman's hair was pure blonde not the brown his mother had. She was also a bit taller and while his mother seemed playful at all times this woman seemed a bit more serious about life. "Hello, Harry. My name is Alice."

"Hello, Ali…"

"But you are going to call me grandma or any variation of that."

Harry looked at her for a moment and then to his mom. The only reason why he was taking calling her mom in such stride was because she was the first person he saw since he was born from the three souls, she gave him his first present which was also the first the original Harry would have had as well, she just genuinely was his mom to him. But to be calling someone else a close member of his family especially, he wasn't sure he could but he'd try. "I'll try." He said looking back at the woman who seemed a little set back by his statement and gave a quick glance at her daughter.

Angela gave Harry's shoulder a light squeeze understanding how he was feeling. He's been through a lot and would need time to get settled into the idea of being part of a family, especially considering how his last 'family' was. She prays they rot in jail and the fat bastard is roomed with a man named Bubba.

After seeing her daughter's expression Alice smiled down at the boy "Well we'll have to work hard on it, won't we?"

Harry nodded and followed the two woman as they walked in what he guessed was this home's den. It was of comfortable size and seemed welcoming in the decorum. The mother and daughter started talking a bit but after they got to the part about Alice's husband going to take a bit longer Harry lost attention and started to play with Optimums and Snake eyes.

The Two women momentarily paused their conversation as they watched Harry force his toy transform with his magic, surprising Alice but made Angela get a fond smile on her face as she watched him play. "So where's dad again?" Angela asked taking her mother's attention away from the toddler.

"Oh, he's finishing up some business deal or another. I don't understand a word of it, something about that burger restaurant from the Colonies he invested in back in the seventies."

"McDonalds, mom. It's actually pretty good. I mostly go for the fries though."

Alice shook her head for a moment "I swear every investment that man makes comes out on top, it's like he's a seer when it comes to money."

"That joke wasn't funny when I was little and it isn't funny now, mom." Angela said with a slight smirk

"Well I like it," she said before casually moving a candy dish on the coffee table in front of them causing several small shapes and letters on the bowl to glow "Now that he can't hear us, tell me how this happened."

Alice hoped she didn't sound too cruel or blunt in her questioning but she was genuinely curious. She wanted to know what possessed her little girl to adopt a child, it wasn't like her. Her daughter was independent and caring yes but she never showed any interest in children. She wasn't even sure if she was going to get grandchildren from her at all, which in all honesty depressed her, but then she gets a letter a few days ago saying that she adopted a child. Needless to say it was a shock and a surprise she was going to take advantage of. She got the play room all set up already, she just needed to get them both over there more.

"It kind of just happened. A little kid comes in hurt and obviously not well treated, I just sort of got attached. And that was before I found out his full name."

Alice raised a brow, why would his name matter?

"And what is so important about his name?"

"Mom, I kind of…." Angela started wishing she had some tea to be drinking to calm her nerve and enjoy the reaction her mother was about to have "adopted Harry Potter."

Alice blinked and stared at her daughter, mauled over the meaning of the words that were spoken to her. She looked over to the playing toddler on the ground that looked like he was forcing himself from making sound effects from his little play fight. She tried to look for the tell tale sign of his lightning bolt scar but his hair was too long to see through. "Are you sure?"

"As sure as his birth record and the scar on his head."

Alice was gobsmacked. Her new grandson was THE Harry Potter, the savior of Wizarding Britain, the defeater of the greatest Dark Lord in centuries. "Really?"

"Yes." Angela said resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

Alice went silent for a moment "C-can I see the scar?"

Angela flinched "Mom, before you do, you should hear the story about how I met Harry."After getting a nod she went on "I met him when he came in from a traumatic episode caused by someone wanting to "make his scar cooler". It wasn't a pretty sight when we got him. He's still a little uncomfortable with the new addition to his scar. Just be careful of how you react with seeing it, I've been having trouble having him take those glasses off since I've gave them to him."

Alice nodded and remembered a saying about how children could be the cruelest people sometimes and thought it fit this situation perfectly. "I would still like to see it, to at least get it out of my system."

She could see her daughter thinking it over before moving the candy dish back to its non-active position and calling Harry over "Harry, stop playing for a moment and come over here."

Harry grumbled a bit from his spot on the floor but stood up and walked over to his mother "Yeah?"

Angela picked Harry up and placed him on her lap, he was still fairly light so it was simple "Can you do me a favor and take your sunglasses off for Grandma?"

"Why?" Harry asked clearly not wanting to do it.

"Because you two are family now and it would be nice of you to let her see"

Harry made a scrunched face before nodding and reaching up for his glasses. He pulled his glasses off and raised his face slowly before looking his supposed grandmother in the eye.

Alice actually gasped in shock. Blood red and emerald eyes stared right at her; they were strong and barely held a child's gleam to them. Her eyes then went to the scar that was now visible without the bulky glasses in the way. The famous lightning bolt was there but she could see where the new scar was added, it horrified her that one child could do this to another. It was horrible; a straight line went through his red eye and stopped at the little bump of his cheek bone.

Harry shifted from his spot on his mother's lap "Can I put them back on now?"

"You can leave them off now if you want." Angela said hoping he would leave them off. She was glad he could walk in public without getting curious glances but he seemed to be using them as too much of a crutch.

"I know but I like having them on" After Harry said that he placed them back on his face and went back to playing with his toys as if nothing happened but he now kept a closer ear on the adults.

"See, dang near impossible to get him to take them off now. Anyway, when is dad getting back?"

"Hmm, he left early today so maybe another hour or so." Alice let out a small smile "He was happy to have an heir though, saying something about the last one running off."

"He's still not over that? God, I told him I liked earning my own damn money not living off his dollar" Harry started to drift off from what the adults were saying again and had a transformed Optimums prime slam into the ninja.

He went on playing for a few more minutes when the adults grabbed his attention. His "Grandmother" Alice bent down and gave smile that seemed at bit… odd "Hey Harry, want to see something cool?"

"Sure" Harry said in a not too trusting voice and followed the now near ecstatic Alice with his mother at his side. "Um, is she okay? She seems a bit off."

"Well, mum has always been a bit odd but she learned how to be serious at times for dad. She's usually odd though."Harry thought some of the mother's odd rubbed off onto her daughter but kept that to himself, Geneva's memories told him that she didn't like being compared to her mother and guessed that his mom wouldn't like it either.

After going up a flight of stairs and passing a few doors Alice cheerfully announced that they were here. Opening the door they were standing in front of showed a room filled with toys of various types and sizes, most notably was a huge white rabbit in the corner. But all Harry could really think of was what was he suppose to do with so many toys.

Angela leaned over to his mother and whispered "A giant bunny, mom? Really?"

"What? I like rabbits."

"He's a boy" she hissed out only to receive a shrug.

"Um," Harry said grabbing the pair's attention "What am I suppose to do with all this?"

Angela stifled a laugh while Alice looked confused "Play with them of course."

"How am I supposed to play with all this?" Angela stifled another laugh and tried to feel sorry for her deflated looking mother. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no sweetie you didn't. Grandma here had too high of expectations." Harry gave a shrug and started to dig through the toys for something he could play with.

As he did so Alice closed her eyes and sighed "I'm not going to be able to spoil him am I?"

"Probably not."

"Takes away part of the pleasure of being a Grandmother. Oh well, I'll keep on trying."

After nearly two hours of watching Harry play, Alice being slightly disappointed that he was only playing with maybe three of the toys in the room, Angela's father finally arrived. He didn't exactly announce his presence so much as a small bat eared creature came into the room wearing a linen pillow case as a dress and announced it.

"C'mon Harry lets go meet grandpa." Angela called as she made her way to the door with her mother. Harry himself slowly stood up and patted down his pants.

"Do I have to call him that?"

"No, but try to eventually, ok?" Harry gave his mother a nod and earned a smile from both women.

After a quick search of the first floor Angela got tired of looking for him and just yelled his name. They followed the voice that answered into the kitchen where they found him leaning over the counter drinking some tea. The man looked over to them with a slight tired expression and gave them a warm smile while raising his cup in greeting.

Angela did a light jog over to him and gave him a hug "Hey Daddy."

"'ello Pumpkin. How've you been?"

"Busy but I've been good." While Angela was hugging and catching up with her father Harry took the image of the man in. He was thin, almost unhealthily so. His completion and posture would make one think he was a vampire. His hair was chestnut brown like his mother's but had started to gray at the sides giving him a distinguished look. His eyes were a stern brown that seem to lighten up when he saw Harry.

"Is this him?" he asked kneeling onto his old knee to get a look at Harry.

"Yep, this is Harry." She said as she stood behind her little boy and let her dad do his little game he always did. He could usually size a person up just by staring at him and he did the same to children to see what type of person they have the potential to be. Basically Harry was being put through at test at the moment and she was sure he would pass, mostly because her parents wanted grandbabies.

Andrew Cutting stared at his adopted grandson with interest. He already knew who the little boy really was, he had a habit of making background checks on people he was dealing with and it wasn't that hard to sneak a peek at what his daughter was doing. He could see bits of his grandfather, his biological grandfather, in him and if he was anything like that man he'd be happy. Though just by his posture he seemed a little withdrawn and if not that confident, which was odd. If they could crack him of his insecurity then they had plenty of potential to deal with the help shape a great man.

"It's good to meet you young man. My name is Andrew but do your best to call me Grandpa."

**That's it, this chapter is done. And I got nothing witty or important story info…. Really look forward for the next chapter I plan to make it good.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I am pissed, had to start the whole chapter over again because my computer decided to hate me when I was on a roll, 3k worth of words and story right down the drain. So sorry if this took a while. Anyway, please excuse the bad French, using a translator and I'm not sure how reliable it is.**

**Also sorry it took so long, writers block, moving out and some emotional shit got in the way, so my bad for making you all wait so long.**

**Chapter five: Time has flown by **

Angela looked through the den of her home of two years but just couldn't seem to find what she was looking for.

She never really wanted to move out of her old apartment but the constant begging from her parents and the bi colored puppy eyes of her son wore her down after a year. Even when she said she couldn't move because she needed to be by the hospital she was assigned to her father somehow bought a home, a rather large home, in London. How he managed that so quick she didn't know, some connection or favor, maybe he actually owned some real estate company. Anyway she was currently looking for something very important and couldn't find it.

She looked in the kitchen, her bedroom, the bathroom and finally the den. She could be careless at times, she knew that, but not this careless. She actually had a good idea where this lost thing was but wanted to give a benefit of a doubt. After searching under the coffee table and every coach cushion she gave up.

Now she knew where it was and she wasn't happy about it.

"Harry!"

There was a slight thud from the second floor of the house but other than that there was no sign that he heard her "Harry James Cutting Potter get down here! NOW!"

After a few seconds she could here slow and forced footsteps coming down the stairs. Soon a very guilty and sullen looking Harry came into the room with his head held low and hands behind his back. Angela stared where his eyes should have been if they weren't directed at the floor but all she saw at the moment was where a rubber band holding his long black hair in a ponytail. She was still a little surprised at how well he kept his hair, he took better care of it than most men twenty years his senior and almost as much as a girl in her teens.

"Look, at, me." She said forcibly making the boy to slowly raise his gaze from the very interesting floor to meet his mother's angry blue eyes.

As Harry raised his gaze he flinched under his mothers glare. It wasn't that he was afraid that she was going to hurt him. Not like the first Harry's, by the farthest stretch of the term, 'family'. It wasn't even the anger that bothered him, it was the annoyance and disappointment he could read so clearly in her posture and eyes. It was unsettling to him.

"How many times have we been through this?" She asked after counting to ten in her head.

"I don't know, seven or eight times" that was a lie and he knew it. It was closer to twenty but that was counting the times he took one of his grandparents. So it was a semi lie.

"And yet it still hasn't gotten through to you that it might be a bad idea to do this. Why?"

Harry tried to look back down at the floor in shame but his mom forced his head up with a firm hand on his chin. Her blue eyes going a steely blue as they stared into emerald and ruby, despite her annoyance and anger at the moment she was happy that he wasn't wearing his sunglasses as much anymore. He had such beautiful eyes, it was a shame he kept on hiding them behind those tinted lenses.

"I-I just wanted to get better. I can do so much more with it than I can without one" Harry inwardly scoffed at himself for being so… obedient towards his mother. He was a dark lord in a past life and a mother himself in another, yet here he was acting as the world's perfect example of a mama's boy.

Angela found herself in a stump there. How do you punish a child who was only trying to get better at something?

She may be good at this whole parenting thing according to a number of people but she still didn't know what to do in a situation like this. You couldn't really fault the boy for wanting to get better at something; it was actually one of the traits she loved so much about her son. He always strived to do better. Be it school or his Muay Thai class, he would push himself to do better to the point they had to force breaks and rest days for the boy.

The Muay Thai class turned into a much bigger blessing than she could have ever hoped for. Not only did it put him into very good shape but it made him less ashamed of his scars. Actually that is an understatement, the instructor there made him proud to bear his scars.

According to accounts from Jim on one of the first days Harry started the instructor had Harry take off his shirt. At first Angela wanted to rant about that and all the dangerous men out in the world but when it was explained to her that it was to see what his body was like to get a proper training regiment she calmed down if only a little.

After calling her son scrawny the Thailand native noticed Harry acting nervous and trying to hide his back. This caused the man to forcibly turn Harry around to see what was wrong. When he saw the scars the man practically growled in anger but not at the fact he had scars or how he got them but how he was acting towards them. He told Harry, practically yelling as he did, that scars are nothing to be ashamed off. If anything they are medals and trophies that you should never feel shame in showing, they are proof that you lived and survived. Since that day Harry has been proud of every scar on his body, from his eye, to the scars on his back and the more recent ones on his knuckles.

But that aside he should NOT be taking things, no matter what the reason was.

Angela stretched out her hand with her palm up and made a 'hand it over' motion "Give it here."

Harry made an almost ashamed look as he took his hands from behind his back revealing a slim piece of yew wood, nine and a half inches long with unicorn hair as a core. "Sorry" he mumbled as he pressed the handle in his mother's hand and waited for her next response.

Angela looked her wand over for any damage before doing a quick charm to check the last few spells cast. A few levitation charms, a couple of spells similar to a banisher closing in on a flight charm, and a few attempted transfigurations. "Where did you learn these?" she asked genuinely curious. This wasn't some accidental use of a wand or some petty parlor trick children manage to do with their parents wands. This was actual magic, and to be able to do even partial transfiguration at such a young age was astounding.

Harry scuffed his feet and tried to hide his emotions as to not give anything away. He hasn't gotten around telling her yet about how "He" became to be and that the "hero" Harry Potter went away, sort of, he still got a little confused on the whole fused three souls things. It made for good yet uncomfortable philosophical thinking. "I'm kind of doing what comes natural and feels right." This was techniquly the truth since he was trying to relearn everything his two older past selves learned up to the memory blocks and accommodating for his higher magical power.

The single mother made a humming sound as she mauled over her son's answer. He was getting a lot better at hiding things and bending the truth but she could still tell when he was doing it. But she decided to let it go, for now. "Uh-huh. Impressive use of magic aside, you're in trouble. I should cancel our trip to France because of this"

Harry eyes started to go wide as he started to complain in rapid French, showing his skill in the tongue and how much he was looking forward to this trip. "Non, maman, vous ne pouvez pas! S'il vous plaît laissez-moi aller, j'ai travaillé très dur sur mon français et je promets d'être sage et de ne pas prendre votre baguette à nouveau ... ainsi pas sans permission, mais je promets d'être bon, juste me laisser aller!"

Now Angela was okay in French but she didn't pick it up as well as Harry has and could only could pick out the general meaning of what he said. Something about being good, won't take again and to please let him go. All good but that slight pause in the middle of it worried her.

She wasn't really going to cancel the trip, it was too close and they put too much effort in planning it to just cancel it, it was just a threat to show him how serious the situation was. Now for a proper punishment. It took her a few moments to think of a good punishment for the boy. "Your grounded for the next week. That means no Muay Thai, no going over to friends houses, no leaving the house, toys are to be taken away… and nothing else even remotely fun for the next week" the last part was a bit weak but it would do the job.

But to Harry's adolescent mind, no matter how mature it may be, this was close to a death sentence. "But!"

"It's either that or no France next month."

Harry started to grumble but nodded his head in recognition that he understood. The next week would be hell.

Oh and it was, by the third day he wanted to bash his head in. He was so bored and his puppy eyes weren't working on his mother like they use to, he blamed him getting older and her starting to build an immunity to it.

But he survived it and was looking forward to his trip to France. The part of him that was Geneva couldn't wait to go and speak her native tongue, well not hers anymore, it was his tongue now. All the same he was looking forward to the trip, so much so that it was the only thing he could think of until the day to leave had finally arrived.

Harry let out some of his child like nature as he practically bounced up and down waiting for his Grandparents to get down the stairs so that they could leave. His mother was watching him with no small amount of amusement as she shrunk their luggage down and slipped it into a pouch around her neck. It took a few more minutes of waiting but they had finally came down and like his mother looked on in amusement as he showed a rare amount of excitement.

"Come on already." He mumbled under his breath but everyone heard him as he went on a mini tirade about waiting for this for what he thought was forever. It actually felt that way to him. A child's perceptive of time was so different than that of a seventy year old man or an over four hundred year old ghost. Time seemed to slip by all too quickly for Tom, something he tried tirelessly to prevent, and to Geneva weeks and months were like just like hours. But to Harry's mind everything seemed to crawl by and nothing seemed to move fast enough.

After everyone double checked that they had their luggage safely secured in Angela's pouch they disappeared in a pop only to return again in front of an old beat up looking bar with the sign Leaky Cauldron hanging from it. Harry sighed, he knew that they couldn't just appear inside the alley because of the wards and there were only a few apparition opening points to enter the magical area but it was still annoying to have go through this bar every time.

As they walked through the dirty and gloomy bar Angela grabbed his hand and made sure he stayed close, none of them wanted to deal with the whole celebrity thing yet. No one outside of their family of four, Angela's fellow magical hospital workers and a few close family friends knew that Harry Potter was already reintroduced to the magical world. And they would like to keep it that way for now. But to be safe he acted the shy child and stuck close to his mother with his head down.

Walking through Diagon Alley was nothing new to him but he was still impressed by the old intertwining magic that was on display. It made the whole area have a buzz of constant magic that tingled through him. A strange feeling that was new to this life but he didn't pay it much mind or thought, it just seemed to be how it was.

Harry cast a look of disinterest through his sunglasses and noticed a few pureblood children asking their parents what was on his face. He chuckled a little at that, a sound that didn't seem to fit a child his age but his family didn't seem to mind it. When he was Tom he remembered shunning everything muggle and thinking everything about them was barbaric and foolish. But now he saw things in a different light, he saw both groups from 'what would help him the most' and a 'what worked better' point of view. And sometimes the muggle way was more efficient and sometimes it was the magical that was better, though magic won a good chunk of the time.

Making their way to the end of the visible alley Harry spotted their destination. A small little store with the words "International Port" written in some type of old curvy script.

The place didn't look like much, inside or out, but it did its job and that's all that really mattered. The inside of the shop was riddled with many maps and nicknacks, both used to help get you where you wanted to go be it location or the medium to get you there. Just point to a city on the map and pick out whatever you want to use as a port key and after a load of international paperwork later you were all set.

His grandfather had picked a medium sized French flag for them to use, hoping it got them into the feeling of vacation sooner. The port key was currently waiting on the desk lined up with the others, presumably the other people leaving today or the next few days.

"Ah, ! I just need you to sign a few things and you will be on your way." The pudgy clerk said from behind the counter as he noticed his very rich guest coming into his shop.

Andrew absently nodded and waited for the man to get the paperwork for him to sign, ignoring all the 'special offers' he was throwing at his family while he attempted a casual conversation. It wouldn't have been so annoying if he wasn't so blindly obvious about it, and it also didn't help matters that the degenerate was sending lewd glances at his daughter and wife.

After signing the papers with a flourish he turned to the store keeper, who was doing a very poor job hiding his disappointment that he didn't sell anything with the portkey, and handed him the papers back to him.

He hated all this red tape that was needed to get an international portkey and briefly wondered if it would have been better to just take the muggle train or take a boat. Maybe even try that muggle transportation known as an airplane to crossover to the continent. Though, he heard that the last option could be more of a pain than obtaining one of these international portkeys.

"Here you are sir." The shopkeeper said as he handed over the charmed French flag to the waiting family "The activation code is as requested is 'activate." Harry gave his grandfather a 'are you kidding me' type of look which went noticed and was given an uncaring sort of shrug. "It's all set and ready to go anytime you are ready."

The old man just nodded as he took the flag off the counter and held it out to his family. He made sure each and every one of them had a firm grasp on to the piece of cloth before he spoke the admittedly simple, bordering silly, activation word.

Harry couldn't stand most types of magical travel. Apparition made him want to puke out his lung, port keys did the same but he felt dizzier and all the spinning gave him a slight headache, floo had to be the worst as the bloody thing practically spat him out the fire and into the nearest wall. He was getting better with the first but as soon as he learned that he would probably never use the other two again. He just wished there was a better way to travel.

Feeling his stomach settle Harry opened his eyes and found himself stumbling into a slightly different shop than the one he was in previously. It just seemed more, what term could be used? Softer, more elegant, maybe, than its counterpart. The nick knacks representing the countries culture and they seemed more organized. The whole store also felt more comforting with its soft blue coloring.

But all that aside, Harry felt excited. He was back in his homeland, well sort of, one of them. Anyway it just felt nice. He was a little worried about how much the country had changed, not that change is a bad thing, just uncomfortable.

But today was not a day to dwell in his past lives, today was a day to enjoy his current life.

For the first few days of their stay in France, they did everything muggle. After exploring regular Paris for a few days they started cheating a bit by taking port keys to hop around the country to see a few of the other great sights in France.

Harry enjoyed looking upon the capital of his old country from the top of what seemed to have become the symbol of the country, the Eifel Tower. He hadn't been in the country in a while, technically not him but all the same, and it was nice to see how it changed but at the same time it was a little unnerving to see how much can change over the years.

They had a few days left in France and so far they had barely touched the magical culture of the country, only stopping off at the magical sections of a few sights. Muggle France had thus far proved its self to be very entertaining, he would not admit it out loud but he enjoyed that Disney place his mother took him too although some people said the one in the States was better.

The people were alright, a few a bit snarky because they were English but otherwise it was fine. He just wished his mother would let him try some of the wine.

The rest of the vacation would be left to explore magical France. According to his Grandfather there wasn't that much to see since the most notable things he could think of was the Magical section of the Louver which they already seen, the Mona Lisa was a big talker, and the French version of Diagon Alley. For the life of him he couldn't think of the name of it nor did he care. He only had two days left and he was going to enjoy them as much as he possibly could.

Paris was such a beautiful city at night. He could stay up there all night. It was starting to get darker, were they turning the lights off?

"Looks like the little guy finally fell asleep. Thought he was going to keep us up here all night." Angela said fondly as her son slacked back in the chair. A part of her wished he didn't since he was getting heavier and it would be a pain to carry him but he still made the cutest sleeping faces.

"Well he's not so little anymore." Andrew said as he picked up his grandson with a grunt. He still didn't see how muggle men his age could lift their grandkids up like this, Harry was getting heavy.

"Tomorrow is our last day to enjoy France, let's let him rest for now." Alice said soothingly as she petted Harry's long hair from over her husband's shoulder.

Angela clucked her tongue "I say we keep the little bugger up so he won't jump around all day." Her parents chuckled at her knowing it was a joke.

The next day Harry was a bit hyper and what could be called giddy.

He was going to see more magic! And not have to worry about it whining and gossiping to him when he walked by.

He really didn't know where his craving of magic came from, sure comparing himself to his past lives would make it easy to pinpoint but he was trying to lessen on that since he was a different person than those three.

The entrance to the French Magical District was similar to England's as it was in the back of a café, just more family oriented and lacked the drunkards. And like its cousin the entrance to the magical district was hidden in the back. Something Harry didn't like because it made it seem like people were ashamed of their magic. But there was nothing that could be done about it with the Security act up.

Maybe when he was older….

Anyway, after asking one of the waiters to open the passage way, as none of them knew what password or combination to open it would be, Harry found himself looking at a whole new world.

While so different culturally and nowhere near as backwards as Magical Britain it still felt… familiar. Well at least the buzzing of magic did, slightly different but it was like comparing brothers. But despite the similarity he couldn't help but smile at the slight and major variations in the magic he saw around him.

Magic was different everywhere. Just like the countries culture it grew with the people changing and shaping its way through time so that it was unique in its own sense and mind. It was so intriguing, maybe he could get his mom to take him to Egypt to see if the ancient magic effected the modern and if it was still in use or maybe the colonies seeing as how it has immigrates from all over the world, how would that effect the cultures magic. Or maybe…

Calming down from his little high of pondering Harry excitedly looked around. Thanks to the part of him that was Geneva he could read French fluently, albeit an older version of French but nothing a few lessons didn't fix, so he spotted the areas he wanted to see the most rather quickly.

Again not much different than Diagon Alley in its selection of shops but it was still a new area to him.

Making a quick dash away from his mother, ignoring her yell of protest, he made his way to the dueling shop hoping to find a form of recording of a duel.

Dueling had become one of Harry's favorite things about the magical world, better than quidditch even. A one on one fight using any means to win within the rules. It was a glorious match he saw when his grandfather brought him to his first one, he loved the part where one of them decked the other, simple but did the job in knocking the prick out.

Harry paused to think for a moment that he might have a slight violence problem from both his obsession with his Muay Thai training and dueling. Nah, it was just good fun, until someone pissed him off.

Caught up in his thought Harry didn't notice that someone walked into his path or the fact that they didn't notice that they had.

Slamming into said person they both let out a yelp and then a groan as they fell to the ground. "_Watch where you are going! You stupid fool!"_

Harry, who was about to apologize for not looking where he was going decided that this girl didn't deserve it "_Yes, yes. I'm dumb I get it, no need to say it twice in one sentence. Makes you seem like the foolish one._" Harry said as he stood up and started to dust off his clothes.

"_You insolent-_"

"_Please don't tell me you were about to say little brat?_" he asked drawly "_that would be so… I don't know pedestrian."_

The blonde girl started to growl at him. How dare this arrogant child talk to her like this! Today was supposed to be her special day! She would pick up her first year books and her first ever set Beauxbatons uniforms. She and her family were having a good time, despite the drooling stares thanks to her mother's and her own developing veela charm, but this boy was ruining her day.

He would apologize.

Standing up herself the eleven year old stared down at the obviously younger boy. "_Apologize._" She demanded.

Harry made a sound like he was pondering "Hmmmmm, _That would be a no._" Smiling at the fact the girl seemed to so quick to anger he kept on "_Honestly I was going to but your ugly ass had to be impolite_" No one ever said Harry was polite himself, actually he was rather straight forward in what he said most of the time. Only holding back when he felt the need and right at that moment he didn't.

The blonde girl paused.

Ugly?

Her?

No one called her ugly. No one could even say anyone in her race was ugly but he just did.

The Nerve!

Flaring her growing but weak charm she demanded again with a harsher tone "_Apologize_"

Harry let his grin grow on his face knowing it would irritate the girl, although he did take notice to a new magic buzzing in the air "_What for? The ugly comment or knocking you to the ground?"_

"_Both!"_

"_Hmmm, only feel like apologizing for one or the other. So choose._"

The girl's blue eyes started to narrow "_Why you little… Fine! Apologize for the remark of me being ugly._" She said relenting to the fact he would force her to choose.

Harry tilted his head to the side slightly "_But it's true._"

"GAH!" the girl yelled with her cheeks tinting an angry red. Her papa said she was a princess and that she was beautiful, so did her mother and many others but this little boy dare say she wasn't pretty? HE, WOULD, BURN.

Harry watched with a little bit of interest as a few feathers started to sprout from the girls arm and a few sparks of blue fire started to lick the top of her fingers. 'huh, veela. No wonder she was so easy to rile up'

"Fleur! _Calm down_." The girls head snapped towards the familiar voice and saw the tall figure of her mother giving her a look of disappointment while her little sister, who was being carried in her mother's arms, looked like she was enjoying the whole scene.

"_B-but, but mama, this boy-"_

"_No excuses! You were making a spectacle of yourself._" As the irate mother started to lecture her daughter about proper attitude and decorum in public Harry noticed with much unease that his mother was walking his way, with his grandparents following after but seemed to hang back knowing that their daughter had everything handled.

"Crap." He muttered to himself.

"Harry Cutting." Angela growled in irritation but withheld his full name knowing the outbreak it would cause. "First you run off and now you are causing trouble, not even five minutes from when you ran off I might add."

Harry opened his mouth to speak but Angela stopped him "No talking until I say so."

"Bu-"

"Za" Angela said making a hasty and random sound to silence him.

"b-"

"Zip it"

"Yes ma'am."

Angela after staring at him for a few seconds made her way over to the irate blonde woman scolding her own child. "_Ex..excuse me_" she said in her shaky French gaining the other mother's attention "_I came to apol..gize for my son's hand in this argument._"

Hearing the woman's accent and pausing French the blonde woman smiled at her fellow mother and spoke in lightly accented French "It iz fine, children will be children. No matter how much it annoys us."

As the two mothers started to talk, and the girl Harry now knew as Fleur was sulking, Harry made his way over to a rather bored looking two or three year old that was standing by her mother's side.

"_Hello, I'm Harry. What's your name?"_

The little girl went from bored to excited in under a second "_I'm Gabby! I'm three!_"

Harry smiled at the little girl in front of him and wondered if his child, Geneva's child, would have been this cute as she grew up. What would have been her favorite food? Color? Did she marry well? Did she have children of her own?

The real sad part was that even with all those questions he couldn't even remember the girls name. Maybe it was time or maybe it was sealed away with the rest of the older souls knowledge and memories, he didn't know but it made him sad.

"_What's on your face?_"

Harry blinked out of his thoughts as he saw the little girl reach for his sunglasses. He didn't mind… as long as she didn't touch the lenses. "_Their called sunglasses. They protect my eyes from the sun,_" 'plus they make me look cool' "_want to try them on?"_

The little girl nodded her head eagerly; not at all shy as she made a grabby motion for them.

Taking them off with a smile he handed them over to her as she looked through them in wonder. "_They make everything dark!_"

At her exclamation the two gathered families turned their attention to the little scene. Most of them just smiled, exept Fleur who was upset at her little sister for playing with the rude boy, and went back to their conversation. Until they heard Gabby's startled yelp and then a awe of amazement and wonder.

"_WOW! You have two eyes!_"

Harry watched her amused knowing what she meant but wanted to mess with her a little "_Don't most people have two eye?_"

The little girls face scrunched in confusion, rather cutely in Harry's opinion "_uh, what I meant was, was, that you have two different eye? Yeah, two different eyes! They look different."_

The others in the French family shifted themselves slightly to get a better look and found what the youngest had said was true. Eyes of ruby and emerald looked at Gabriel in amusement.

"_That's right. You are a smart girl aren't you?_" Harry said patting her head "_Much_ _smarter than your sister, cuter too_."

While the little girl preened at the praise the older sister felt like burning him again. "_Christmas eyed freak._" She mumbled in a low aggravated tone that no one could really make out.

Angela sighed and bid her fellow mother good bye "Come on Harry"

"Yes mum." Harry took back his glasses from Gabriel and patted her on the head again "_Goodbye Gabby._"

"_No._" she said clinging to Harry's waist before turning to her mother "_Mama, can I keep him? He's fun!_"

Said mother told her 'no' before pulling her away and apologizing to Angela.

Waving it off the two Cuttings walked over to the elders of the family who had watched the whole the whole event in a good amount of amusement.

"Do you have to mess with people where ever you go?"

Harry didn't even need to think it over "Yes, yes I do."

**Okay, that's it for now. Again sorry it took so long and I hoped this was good for you. Writers block sucks. Anyway, Next chapter is the start of Hogwarts. Check out my two new stories 'Naruto's Blade' (debating about changing name) and what most of you all would prefer 'Harry Potter and the Duality of Magic'.**

**Peace**


	6. Chapter 6

**Inspiration you be my friend, please never leave again.**

**Okay I know I haven't been back in a while but it seems my brain works best when it gets closest to a school year… college bites balls but back to Hudson Valley for me. So don't expect quick updates but I'll try.**

**Onto the new chapter.**

**Chapter six: From the Alley to the Train, Trouble all the way**

"Someone is going to explain this." Angela said in a very stern voice as she held a red stained tissue in the air.

"Mom, it's not that big of a deal it was just a spar." Harry said nursing his soar jaw and bloody lip.

"You, quiet." She said in a slightly less aggressive tone "I'm dealing with these GROWN MEN before I get around to you." Her voice snarled as she turned back to the well muscled men in the room who all seemed a little on edge at the moment.

"Now, Angie calm down. We put Harry up against one of the younger students, he's only fifteen. Brian actually came out worse in this than Harry did." Jim said trying to calm down his co-worker and friend. It wasn't really working but he had to try. Besides it was true, kid had a black eye, a bruised rib and if the fact his eyes didn't seem to follow Jim's finger meant anything he had a small concussion. Knees could be brutal when used and aimed right.

Angela glared at her friend "shut up. I ask for you to bring him here thinking that he would be safe."

"And he is." Said an accented voice from the watching crowd "He has sparred a few times already with people older than him and has done well. He is a very talented boy and has taken worse in spars."

Angela glared at the tanned, admittedly intimidating, Asian man "Other spars?" she turned to Harry "Other spars?"

Harry squirmed a bit under her gaze "Uh, yeah. A few, maybe more." Harry said being as vague as he could while still being truthful with his mom, it was a bad idea to even attempt to lie to her. In all honesty he has sparred once a week since he was deemed able by the coach, which was about a year ago. He just wanted to keep it a secret from his mom as she tends to get, well like she was acting at the moment.

"What did I say about getting into fights?"

"Well, they're not exactly fights… more like a practice game" he explained with a slight hopeful tone to his voice.

"NOT THE POINT" hope crushed.

The gym watched in morbid interest as the mother went to town on her son about the dangers of fighting and a number of reasons why he shouldn't be doing it. Most knew about Harry's life before Angela so it wasn't that big or a deal, besides scars were trophies there. Most were just wondering how this whole thing blew up.

The was Thursday and Angela usually had night shift so either Jim took him home or one of Harry's grandfather came to pick him up. So they usually had the spars that day since the boy needed to practice, Andrew didn't seem to mind either. The businessman would actually come early sometimes to watch. But for so reason Angela got off that day and decided to pick her son up before they could cover up the blood and make it look like something else happened and his glasses prevented her from seeing any black or swollen eyes. She actually came during the spar and saw the punch to the jaw, making her go a little crazy.

Abdul Montri, the owner and main instructor of the gym, was mildly impressed at the English woman's curse out. The fussing over his youngest student was also amusing. Things get a little dull around there with nothing but training and dirty jokes, it was an interesting change of pace to see full grown and trained men cower from such a petite woman.

"Ms. Cutting again, Harry was in no real danger. We watch the matches carefully… well today it admittedly got a little out of hand. Isn't that right Brian?" The mentioned boy groaned and told them not to tell anyone he had his ass kicked by a ten year old. "Still he is very good at this and the only way better to get good at something is to put it into practical use."

Angela mulled over what he said, and she still didn't like it. Her son was bleeding and that was bad. Before she could say anything about that though Harry interrupted her "Mum, it's okay. It's all in good fun, I'm fine, Brian is fine…ish." After that comment a faint and dizzy sounding 'screw you Harry' was heard "Please let me keep on sparing. I'm only going to be around for a few more months."

The mother bit her lip a little bit and Harry tried doing his puppy eye look but the bloody lip wasn't helping his case. But damn if it wasn't working, she could practically feel the want flowing out of him "Fine." Turning to the instructor "But if he comes back with anything broken heads will roll, literally. And I'll make sure you're still alive so when I use it as a football you can feel it. Trust me, I'm a nurse, I can make it happen."

After effectively scaring a few grown men she left the gym ready to pull her wand out to fix the damage done to her son.

Abdul turned to Jim and asked "Is she available?" Jim looked at him like he was crazy and slowly backed away as he did not want to be near that mess.

When they were in the car Angela quick healed up his lip and reduced the swelling in less than two flicks. After the healing was done she started to interrogate her son and unfortunately for Harry she was probably the only person in the world who could pry answers out of him.

It wasn't a fun ride back to the house.

As they entered the house Andrew called from the den asking how Harry's spar went not knowing his daughter was there. This action caused her wrath to be sent towards him. Alice hearing her daughter's tirade didn't know whether to be amused or to join in with her daughter, her grandbaby gets hurt someone else loses a head.

The month of June went by with a crawl for Harry. It seemed more in the way than anything else, even the fact that it was his last day in muggle school and probably would never see many of his muggle friends again didn't bother him as he just told himself he would see some of them next summer. He was smart enough to know he wasn't going to be friends with many or maybe any of them so it wasn't that devastating of a blow. But none of that mattered; all that mattered was the first of July, when he would finally get his letter for Hogwarts.

His first step, so many of his dreams and plans started there, a first step in magical education. Not only that this is where most people in Magical England form their lifelong friendships and maybe a few alliances. But even more importantly than that, He gets his own WAND!

The only thing that was stopping them from heading to Diagon Alley now was that stupid book list, so that letter better hurry up.

When the day finally came Harry was the first to wake up and was visibly anxious throughout the hours he waited, and for a child who usually seemed in control of himself that was saying something. Despite their grogginess, no one in the Cutting family was a morning person, they all watched in amusement as Harry rapidly tapped his foot and stared at their post window. They could even hear him mumbling for the stupid owl to hurry up.

"Harry, relax. They always come around seven or eight. It's barely even seven yet… and I should still be in bed" Andrew mumbled the last part but he from the agreeing glances from his wife and daughter he found that they agreed. But damn, the boy was acting like it was Christmas and to be honest they were all a bit excited themselves. The letter of acceptance was like a rite of passage to the magical people of the world, it was their first real step into the magical world.

"Couldn't they just send it early. I mean I'm some sort of celebrity or something…" he started to grumble but his family only smiled at his glimpse of childish actions, they were also pleased that he wasn't lording over the fact he was the Wizarding world's biggest celebrity. Then again they knew he was going to use it to his advantage at some point but they did not raise a spoiled child, but Andrew did make sure the boy had a businessman's mind.

Near the end of breakfast they all heard a loud hoot as a brown post owl swooped over to their table and dropped a letter in front of Harry before flying right back out. "Wow, little guys in a rush" Harry said absently before grabbing his letter and yelling "Finally!"

Harry started to read out loud in a small mumble "we are proud to say… accepted into…." None of the adults really paid attention, they knew what it said they just watched the excited look on his face as he read it over.

But after a few moments it was gone and followed by a frown "Hey mom, is it normal for a teacher to come to the home of a magical family?" Harry wasn't sure since Geneva was from France from a few hundred years ago so different culture different time, and Tom was an orphan that had the transfiguration professor introduce him, one Albus Dumbledore.

"No," she said as she took the paper from her son "I think that's only for Muggleborns, mom?"

"Yeah one came to get me and helped to introduce me to the magical world. But I didn't think that they did it for children with magical parents."

"No." Andrew said in an oddly serious tone "Even kids with squibs for parents don't have a teacher visit unless requested. It could be a mistake but more likely someone on the school board or staff trying to butter Harry up." Everyone at the table expected someone to try something like this but it seemed a little early "Let's just write a letter back saying that we won't need the escort."

Harry nodded and volunteered to do it himself, he preferred doing things that way so he knew what went right and what went wrong. After writing a quick letter saying that a Professor's assistance would not be necessary he borrowed his grandfather's owl Herald and sent the message.

Before Angela left for work they made plans for a trip to Diagon Alley to get his supplies and wand. Harry had an eager smile on, he couldn't wait to have his wand even with the under aged magic law he would get to practice magic on his own at Hogwarts or any other home holding a few magical people, got to love loopholes.

It wasn't even three hours later when they all heard a loud slam on the door, like someone was trying to kick it in. Everyone stopped what they were doing and slowly made their way into the foyer, careful as none knew what the hell was going on. Angela was a little groggy as she wanted to get a nap in before her shift and was only ten minutes into it when the first slam came, Andrew and Alice came out of his study with their wands held in hand, and Harry just stayed loose in the den where he had a decent view hoping that a quick sprint and a few jabs could help.

With one more thunderous slam to the door it fell to the ground revealing a giant of a man with a scruffy beard and a beat up coat. He stepped into the foyer like there wasn't a care in the world and said "Sorry about that, I'll fix her right up."

As the man picked up the broken door and tried putting it back in place Angela spoke up "You know, we have a door bell."

"What's that?" his voice thick with his accent making it a little hard to understand him. Angela started to mutter about the incompetence of some people.

Andrew didn't care about any of that, just that his home is being invaded by what seemed to be a half giant "That's not important, what is important is that you are in MY home and decided to just barge in. Now tell me who are you and what the hell do you think you are doing in this house?" His voice was stern but showed every bit of protective rage he was feeling. He held his wand out and pointed it at the supposed half giant's chest with a wicked looking red wisp of light circling at the tip.

The Large man actually backed up a few steps from the much shorter man before he seemed to steel himself to do something "I am here for Harry Potter"

"And what do you want with him?" Angela asked immediately and evenly, her maternal instincts kicking in to the point she was already thinking of ways to take the large man apart and get Harry away from there.

The large man puffed out his chest a bit "Albus Dumbledore sent me to retrieve him, saying he might be in a unsafe home."

"And who the hell is he to decide that?" Angela snapped at the man and he cowed back a bit. The rest of the family was curious to as Harry belonged there and what right did this headmaster have to say that the home was unfit if had never even met the boy.

Harry fully stepped out from the den and into the foyer behind his family with his chin up, arms crossed and eyebrow raised. He was curious too as to where the hell someone would get the idea he was in a dangerous home.

The large man seemed to cheer up and smile as he saw Harry "Ah, Harry! I haven't seen you since you were a babe. Look a lot like your father you do."

"Since I was a babe?" Harry asked aloud both curious as to how he or his biological parents knew this man and wonder who the hell talked like that in that day and age.

"Yes sir, was the one to drop you off at the Dursley's me self." As the giant finished his sentence Andrew let his spell loose and the large man barely dodged in time, turning the portrait hanging behind him to dust and cracking the wall that had held it. Andrew knew what those monsters did to his grandson and if this man lead an innocent child to that fate than his life was forfeit, besides he was trespassing, Andrew could probably get away with killing him.

The giant man barely had time to recover from his stumble of a dodge when the table in the foyer was lifted by a spell and tossed at him such force that it shattered on impact. He looked up to see three wands pointing at him with the youngest female shaking in rage, the worse part to him was that even with those glasses on the man could feel the cold stare from the boy.

Alice being the only one that didn't plan on killing the man spoke up "Get out of here before we kill you."

The man couldn't get out of there fast enough, even broke the door in half in his exit. Andrew did a few repairing charms and waited the minutes it took to undo the damage to calm his temper. Angela and Alice did the same while Harry was more confused than angry. Seeing as without the Dursleys he wouldn't be him and the three souls would still be themselves but at the same time he felt rage from the memories from Geneva and grievance from the echoes of the first Harry.

He decided to be angry since the large man helped put a little boy in a home that basically tortured him.

Angela took in a few quick breaths and spoke out to gain the families attention "So anyone else thinking of transferring Harry to another school, he can speak French pretty good." She said thoughtfully and in all seriousness. And it seemed that all the other members of the family were thinking along the same lines. If one of the staff took Harry to the Dursley's and he was saying that he was under Dumbledore's orders making it pretty easy to see that it was the headmasters idea to put him there.

So it was guaranteed that they had to deal with at least two bastards while Harry went to Hogwarts. Unfortunately for the Cuttings Harry thought of the whole situation as a challenge and a pill he had to swallow eventually.

"I think… I should still go."

"WHAT" Angela shrieked as she turned to Harry looking at him like he was crazy. "Why in the world would you still want to go there?"

"Because, it seems like a bowl of crap I have to deal with eventually." He answered honestly "Besides, you went to Hogwarts, Grandma and Grandpa went and so did my biological. Wouldn't seem right if I didn't go"

They weren't going to deny that they wanted him to go to Hogwarts because they went, they even had a bet to what house he'd be in, but the staff so far pissed them off.

"I'll think about it." Angela said sternly but Harry knew that meant yes in his mother's own little language.

Andrew nodded, feeling that this was Harry's decision but he was going to make a few donations to the school and suck up to a few school officials. If he played everything right he may even be able to convince them to follow a few of his request and suggestions, but that was a bout twenty moves ahead of now and would take at least a year.

Now he just needed to make a floo call to get better wards than the visitor alert ones they had. So what if they would mess with the TV, quick shopping trip to America or Japan could fix that. Small comforts be damned, his families safety always comes first and getting new wards were a long time coming.

Alice just sighed, she like her daughter would have preferred him to go to the French or American school after what just happened but then again Hogwarts was closer and she still remember a few of the secret entrances and exits of the school so she could check on Harry when she felt the need. Though it would probably be best not to mention that piece of information to her daughter seeing as how the woman was already demanding Harry send her a letter every a day and seemed to want them by the hour.

The next day a letter from Hogwarts came saying that they were sorry for the misunderstanding, though everyone found it hard to swallow. The wording just felt like it said 'this is not over' or 'we'll speak of this again soon' without saying it or being offensive. Angela promptly tossed the letter in the garbage after reading it.

On Saturday the four of them made their way to Diagon Alley, Harry making sure his long hair covered his customized scar seeing as that crowds of well wishers would just get in his way of getting his school supplies. He didn't need school robes since they owled ordered them a while ago and his Grandma fitted them herself, books didn't matter at the moment either, all that mattered was that he got his damn wand. He missed having that feeling of completion in magic that came when he held a wand made just for him.

Harry nearly ran out of the Leaky Cauldron and made his way to the store marked "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC". His family following amused as he entered the shop. Harry looked around in a hidden curiosity only to slightly drop his shoulders seeing as how Ollivander was with another person already with another two students behind her. He then clucked his tongue, crossed his arms and leaned against the nearby wall to wait his turn.

"Oh dear, there's a line. Maybe we should leave and come back." Alice said looking at the small line with a frown

"No" Harry said resolutely "Line might only get bigger that way. Besides he's done with the first person already. Shouldn't take that long."

They wanted to disagree as they knew some wands took hours to find but they stayed seeing that Harry wasn't going to change his mind. They didn't even leave to get his books or potions supplies to get it out of the way and kill a little time. Getting a wand was a important and near sacred thing, it was a like a lifelong friend put together with an arm that was how important it was and why so many actually cried why they saw their wand snapped. They weren't about to miss such an important event, this was even more important than the letter.

Like the first wand selection the second did not take that long, the little red head beamed excitedly at her parents and left the shop with barely a second glance at the waiting families. The third one though, that one took a child's eternity, a whole half an hour wasted as the boy couldn't seem to find his wand.

It got to the point that when the kid finally did find his wand Harry let out a cheer of "Finally!" causing the boy and his stern looking grandmother to stare at him. The boy had the good grace to look sheepish and embarrassed; honestly Harry didn't think there was a need since it took as long as it took to do these things, while the grandmother turned her nose up.

After the two paid and walked out the old man with silver hair and a look in the eye that part of Harry remembered and it still creped him out. "Why what do we have here?"

The man's voice seemed so intrigued that it gained a misty quality to it. Harry looked back at his family only to see that they were almost a freaked as him, so he was guessing that this wasn't the norm. Looking back at the old man and into his silver eyes he felt like he was under some sort of microscope. "Harry Potter? Hmmm… a bit off but yes. Yes, yes it is you!"

"Um"

"Come on, step up. Oh this is going to be a challenge I just know it!" the excitement in his voice again creped him out with the child like glee he was emitting.

Harry stepped up like he was told and was surprised to find a magical tape measure shoot out of nowhere and start to measure him. "Now which arm is you wand arm?"

"Uh, I can use both pretty well." Tom was a lefty, Geneva was s righty and Harry had no clue so they just blended together to make him ambidextrous. In all honesty, while useful, it jumbled his instincts a bit. He got used to it after the first two years but still, it was a pain in the ass.

"Interesting, interesting." The man mumbled out loud as he strummed his fingers over several box before stopping at one and pulling it out. "Try, this one. A 9 inch willow wand with a horntail's hearth strings for a core" Harry took the wand and felt a bit of power before Ollivander snatched it out of his hand "No, no. That won't do. How, about, this one."

As the thirty-eighth wand was taken out of Harry's hand Ollivander seemed to grow more excited, despite having part of his counter blown off. Harry looked back at his family and saw that they weren't used to this length of time to find a wand either. Angela seeing him looking back gave him a supportive smile which he returned with his own unsure one.

"Let's see, a nice sturdy one. Yes, maybe some holly wood, no something more sturdy. An oak or blackthorn I think. Maybe even one of those maple wands, hmmm what to do what to do." Ollivander practically skipped from case to case as he looked from the wand material he managed to figure out fitted Harry "And for a core, something strong or something versatile, adaptable. Yes, that would do."

Taking another case of the shelf he eagerly turned to Harry with a smile on his face "Try, this one." He said reveal a brown yellow looking wand " Seven and a half inch Blackthorn wand with a griffin feather for a core. Very sturdy, nice and strong, but flexible in magic use. A good wand for dueling. Go on, give it a flick."

Harry testily reached his hand into the case and removed the smooth wood from inside. He held it loosely in his hand for a moment before a warm feeling started to flow through him. The wind picked up around him as a soft glow spread over him as a faint roar of a griffin could be heard in the air.

"And we have a winner" Harry said in a near whisper as he let the pleasant feeling of binding to his wand finish itself.

"Yes, indeed we do. I must say I enjoy a good challenge. Now, that's quite a good wand Mr. Potter, so I expect great things out of you." That last sentence didn't sound like his usual insane little ramblings but a dead serious voice that spoke that he meant every word.

Harry just gave the man a cheeky half grin that pretty much said 'what else would I be doing?'

After Angela paid the thirteen galleons to buy the wand and a belt side wand holster they left the shop with Angela messed his hair affectionately. "Mom! Stop! My hair!"

Angela made a snort like sound "God, my son is such a girl."

"Am not" he said defiantly, enjoying being so immature "I just like my hair."

"And what other ten year old boy do you know that pampers his hair as much as you?" his grandmother asked with a smile while Andrew snorted in amusement.

Harry just clucked his tongue in annoyance but had a smile on his face from the friendly jibs.

"Off the subject of hair, a wand meant for dueling?" Andrew shot his grandson a grin and Harry returned it eagerly "We'll have to check around for some little league tournaments? Maybe get a few tutors and spell books…"

"NO" Angela and Alice said at once. And the two males did the same with a "But…"

"NO. you two are lucky I'm still letting him do Muay Thai."

"But Mum, it'd be fun."

"Not for me." She said sternly "And if I get grey hairs from watching you go into duels I'd have to hurt you."

"You'd look good in gray" Harry said in all seriousness.

"Gee, your sweet to your mother Harry." Angela said dryly as they walked towards the Potion Supply Shop, a very unoriginal name.

"I try."

They didn't spend much time in the potions store, they just got the basic set for first years and left. Harry wasn't all that interested in the subject so he didn't want to get needless accessories. Potions were what minions were for, wait, that's Tom's thinking. Oh well, that was pretty much right anyway.

The pet store they also skipped since Harry didn't feel like owning anything and they had Harold to send letters, they also had the school supplied ones as well. The astronomy store was briefly looked through for a telescope until Angela declared she seen better, muggle, version at a friend's house and it was probably cheaper to.

After checking over the school supply list one last time they found they only had one stop left and that was to grab his first year books. They probably should have made the book run first but it was the biggest stop they had to make but at the same time since it was the largest stop they wanted to save it for the end.

Walking into the store, Flourish and Blotts, the family split so they could gather the books faster as well as pick up something for themselves. When they all got back together they headed towards the slowly growing line of shoppers.

"Dad?" Angela asked to gain her father's attention "Why is there a book on dueling spells in the pile?"

"Personal interest dear, nothing more." He said with a completely straight face and even voice but no one in his family believed him. Harry just smiled at his grandfather as he kept on trying to convince his daughter what he said was true.

"Ms. Cutting?" the whole cutting family turned around in unison to see who was calling out to Angela.

"Drs. Granger?" she asked in surprise as she saw the supposed muggle dentists. Harry had a similar reaction but all he did was raise an eyebrow.

The Grangers were a nice enough family and good dentist, something Harry didn't see why he had to go to, but everything about them said normal. Both of them were of average height and build with brown eyes and hair. Though Harry would freely admit that the Mrs. Dr. Granger looked good. They just didn't feel magical, both in metaphorical sense and the fact they felt like dead zones in an area full of magic.

Angela smiled at the two stunned adults "I didn't know you were part of our lot,"

"They're not." Harry said interrupting his mother.

Angela tilted her head at Harry "And you know how?"

"They don't feel it." His family looked at him strange for a moment, getting a look of 'we'll talk about that later, before turning back to the Grangers.

"Um, he's right. We're not. We're what do you call us?"

"Muggles." Angela answered easily "Oh, than that means your daughter is a muggle born!" she remembered the little girl from a few of the times she went to the dentist. She was a cute little thing with buck teeth that usual had her nose in some sort of book behind the counter of the reception area.

The Granger seemed to shift uneasily in their place making Alice laugh "Oh, they are so much like my parents." Recovering from her giggles she saw the looks she was getting "I'm a muggle born as well and my parents, like you, felt uncomfortable with the whole magic situation that they found themselves in."

"Well, it is a bit… uncomfortable to find that there is this whole other world living right next to us." Mr. Granger said looking around to make sure he didn't offend anyone.

"Yes, I imagine it would be. But you get used to it. My parents did and that was nearly half a century ago." Alice said reassuringly. It helped ease the two parents but they were wondering how old the woman was now, she didn't look more than forty, forty five at the most.

Harry had lost interest in the conversation and start reading a chapter in his new dueling books… his grandfather's dueling books, whatever he was still going to take them with him when he left.

"So where is your daughter at?" Angela asked looking around the dentist to see if she was hiding behind her leg or looking through a nearby book case.

"She went off with the Hogwarts Professor that took us here. I think they went to the tran-something section"

"McGonagall then." Andrew said with little thought, he honestly didn't give two shits about the teacher or this family. But it seemed his daughter and wife took an interest so he guessed he should be polite. Glancing sideways towards Harry he saw that he wasn't the only bored one.

"Let's get her then. We can take over your little introduction to the magical world if you want. You know, get a familiar face while you try to get to know this strange new world." Angela said in an overly upbeat tone of voice. Her family was used to this and just nodded along seeing as she doesn't change her mind easily, while the Grangers seemed to be put off kilter.

"oh, no, you don't have to do that." The female dentist said.

Looking behind at her family Angela saw that they honestly didn't give a damn, well except her mother who seemed to want to help out. A muggle-born thing she guessed.

The Grangers still seemed unsure about what was going or what to do but they agreed. Andrew tossed a levitation charm on their stack of books with another charm so that they would follow him with very little effort and they then made their way to find the youngest Granger.

Taking a few turns in the little maze of the book store they found the transfiguration section and standing there in the middle of the isle with a few books that weren't on the recommended reading list was a bushy haired little girl with bucked teeth was talking excitedly to an older woman with a tight bun of grey hair who seemed to barely keep up.

"Hermione."

The little girl turned to her parents and smiled brightly "Mom, Dad, I was just talking to Professor McGonagall about…" she rambled on for a bit to the point Harry actually took his eyes off his book.

"Do you breathe?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

The brown hair girl stopped talking "Huh?"

"You've been talking for like four minutes straight and I haven't heard you take a breath yet. It's an impressive talent." The girl opened her mouth a few times and didn't say anything.

"Harry, be nice." Angela chastised before apologizing to the Grangers, Hermione still being a little gob smacked and confused.

McGonagall mouthed the name for a moment before Angela and her parents greeted her, she gave curt nods to the girl's parents but stayed focused on Angela "Hello, Ms. Cutting. I did not realize you had a son of age to attend Hogwarts." She didn't even see the name Cutting on the list names of first year students but here was an eleven year old boy standing next to his mother. And not only that his name was Harry and the only Harry on the list was Harry Potter. There was also something about his face that looked so familiar.

"Yeah, he grew up fast." Angela said fondly stroking her son's hair, who gave a mock scowl but allowed it since one it wasn't messing anything up and two it felt nice, like when she did it when he was little.

"You are going to be a first year too!" The girl said excitedly, Harry briefly wondered if she was a sugar high. The poor girl would get eaten alive by the pure-blood students at Hogwarts if she kept this up.

Harry gave her a lazy but kind half grin "yes I am" 'damn maternal instincts' he thought as he looked at the excited girl. Once you were a mother, at least a good mother, you couldn't stop being one. No matter how disturbing it was that he had them while he was a male he still had them.

"Oooh, isn't this so exciting! We get to learn magic! I mean I actually thought the letter was a joke a first but then Professor McGonagall comes over and changes our coffee table into a pig! A pig!"

Harry raised an eyebrow and turned to the adults as the girl rambled for a bit more, most of them just looked amused but he could swear McGonagall and the Grangers were giving him a look that meant they knew his pain.

"Again, breathe. Calm down, talk slowly." He said in a chastising tone making her shut her mouth for a second and blush.

"Sorry."

Harry shrugged "It's okay, I just didn't want the whole story, clip notes will do just fine." Being curious Harry leaned forward and looked at the books in her arms "Aren't some of those a little advanced for someone who just found out about magic?"

Harry wasn't sure he could even handle the material in these books with the four years of education he remembered from Tom and Geneva's most likely outdated schooling.

"Well, I'll get it eventually." She said indigently.

As Harry tried to talk to her about taking baby steps McGonagall tried starting a conversation with her former student.

"So Ms. Cutting were you able to get into the healer program like you wanted?" she asked politely but still held a bit of a stiff tone she had when she taught.

"Oh, yes. It was bit difficult but I got the position and it is very enjoyable." She said with a bit of a far of look. "I stumbled on some good rewards from working there."

McGonagall made a humming sound as she kept her gaze on Harry "I mean no offense but your son doesn't look very much like you. Does he take after his father?"

"So I've heard. I never knew him." McGonagall and the Grangers had a scandalized look on their face, obviously jumping to the conclusion she had a one night stand and popped Harry out nine months later. "It's not like that, he's adopted."

And that was all the proof the professor needed as she stared at Harry to Angela and then focused on the boy's forehead, though she couldn't see anything past his hair. "So is he…"

"Please don't say that in this place, well be swarmed" Andrew said dryly sounding just like the pure-blood he was.

"Say what?" Mr. Granger asked feeling a bit left out.

"Later" Angela said before fully turning towards them and changed the subject "Do you guys have anymore shopping to do?"

"Um, we needed to get Hermione her Potions kit and a telescope."

"Don't get one here. The muggle ones are so much better."

"Really?"

"Yeah my friend Rachel has one and it beats the crap out of the ones they sell here." Angela said convincingly and it seemed the statement made the Grangers feel a little better. Knowing something the muggle side had might be better than the magical felt pretty good to them.

"So how about we buy our books and pick up her potion supplies together so you two can answer any questions you might have." Angela said with her mother following her up with a suggestion of lunch. The Grangers nodded their heads, well except for Hermione who Harry was still trying to explain to her to get the practical down before reading something seven steps ahead. She made the good point that theory was important and having a good amount of knowledge to back it up helped but he kept on telling her that you need a base before you started to build anything.

"I do believe you are taking away my job Ms. Cutting." McGonagall said with a hint of a smile.

"Oh? Are we?" She asked innocently reminding McGonagall of how she always acted during her class, she was one of the more memorable students. "Is that a problem Professor?"

"No, not at all. As long as the Grangers agree I have no qualm with this." She paused for a moment "Though I am curious as how your… son came into your care."

"And why is that ANY of your business." She asked in a hiss that made the Grangers back up as well as few other customers that had come into the isle.

The Professor was not used to this tone from her usually, how should she describe it, peppy former student.

"I am just curious" she said because honestly she was "The Headmaster told me he was to be put into a safe home with his muggle relatives."

"Well they weren't 'safe'" she spat with a large amount of sarcasm at the word safe. "How do you think a nurse meets a kid?"

Angela's voice was barely a whisper with the last sentence but McGonagall heard it loud and clear. Her old face paled a bit at the assumption that was put in the air. Harry's mom didn't care who knew how they met, it wasn't like it was secret but like hell was she going to announce it to more people than needed.

McGonagall stared for a bit not knowing what to say. She had trusted Dumbledore's dissension to put Harry with those awful muggles he said it would be the safest place for him. But apparently he was wrong.

"I apologize for my rude accusation."

Angela wanted to ask what accusation. Did she think that she kidnapped her own son? Maybe Hogwarts was a bad idea, Beauxbatons was looking better and better.

The young woman just made a near grunt sound to show that she heard but didn't necessarily forgive.

After they made their purchases, with Hermione leaving a few books behind, the Hogwarts Professor left feeling a bit out of place.

They rest of the day went by pleasantly enough as the Cuttings tried to explain wizarding culture to the Grangers through their point of view, the point of view of living in both worlds. Andrew and Mr. Granger, whom was found to be named Daniel, started to get very well after the introduction of fire whiskey. Alice and Dan's wife Susan made sure that their husbands didn't have too much.

Dinner wasn't anything spectacular but the families got to know each other better and even agreed to meet each other at the station to help Hermione through.

During the time between the shopping trip and the September first the two families met a few times. They were on friendly terms and the Granger's didn't seem to have enough questions for the magical family. Some questions seemed random and out of place others were more important and focused on their daughter's future.

The Cuttings responded honestly that she should keep her muggle education up to date unless she wanted to work abroad. The options for muggle-borns weren't that good. But they encouraged them to let her go since she needed to train her gift in magic. This conversation lead into talking about the type of bigotry found in the wizarding world and the eventual statement of making Harry promise to watch over Hermione.

Said boy just gave a lazy two finger salute to this.

On September first they agreed to meet a bit early so the kids could get a decent compartment. But apparently it was still too early for Harry as he let out constant and purposely loud yawns.

"We get it. You're tired, so stop it already." Angela said with a roll of her eyes

"Just making sure you knew."

"Haha." Was the dry reply he got but it just made him chuckle in that weird mature way he does, something the Grangers still weren't used to.

As they walked through the busy crowd of the train station they found themselves between stations nine and ten. Walking towards the third pillar in-between the two stations Angela made a grand gesture "Here we are." The Grangers stopped and stared at the pillar for a second, Dan even put down his daughters trunk to see what exactly she was talking about. He didn't see anything.

"At a pillar?" Dan asked a bit unsurely earning a roll of the eye from Andrew muttering about muggles who then got slapped in the chest by his wife.

"Behave."

"What? It's like watching an American walk into a pub." Dan actually snorted at that, he saw the point.

Angela shook her head "It's not a pillar, well it looks like one and acts like one for muggles but to magical people…" The nurse gently put her hand against the apparent wall and their muggle raised companions watched in wonder as her hand sunk into the wall "It's a doorway."

"WOW!" Hermione said a little too loudly but she quickly covered her mouth and looked around to see if there was anyone staring at her. There weren't.

"Don't worry. Notice-me-not charms are put all around the door so people we don't want to find it don't see it." Harry told her reassuringly and then once again cursed his maternal instincts. He was NOT supposed to give two shits about anyone but his family and god help whoever even looked at them funny.

"Ok, me and Harry are going to go first, my parents will take Hermione through since you guys can't get one the platform."

Susan huffed a bit "That doesn't seem all that fair."

Angela just shrugged "What can you do. It's a safety precaution so that muggles don't fall through by accident." They had to nodded their heads in understanding to that. Dan and Susan gave their daughter a good number of hugs and kisses as they gave their goodbyes. Susan actually looked to be on the verge of tears while Dan tried to look like the stable adult.

Harry looked at his mother "You are not going to get that emotional right?" Angela looked away for a moment and Harry could hear a sniffing sound.

"No promises." She said as they walked through the portal.

Andrew took Hermione's trunk from Dan and followed them through, letting Alice show her fellow muggle-born through.

As they got to the other side Hermione looked in wonder at the large red steam engine in front of her. But Andrew and Alice weren't looking at that. No they were watching as he daughter went a little over the top in emotions as she said goodbye to her son.

"Ooooh. You're growing up too fast! I haven't had you long enough!" She said loudly enough for a few others to overhear and laugh at him, already deciding to call him 'mama's boy' "Write to me at least once a week, I don't care if it's only three sentences. As long as I know you are alive and well I'm fine."

"Ok mom." He said barely able to hide his embarrassment and almost failed completely when she kissed his cheeks. "Mom" he hissed at her but it seemed to only make her hold her tighter.

"I want you to be good and don't cause too much trouble… But beat the shit out of anyone who tries to manhandle you."

"Ok mom." With very little embarrassment he kissed his mom on the cheek and gave her a hug "I'll see you on the holidays."

He then gave both his grandparents a hug and a kiss for his grandma before he headed aboard the train with Hermione.

Like the gentleman his family taught him to be Harry took Hermione's trunk along with his recently unshrunken one from his mother and hauled it onto the train. They quickly found a compartment towards the middle of the train.

"Thank you Harry." Hermione said as she sat down and pulled out a book from the back pack she was carrying.

"No problem, I'm just thankful for the built in feather light charm." Harry let out another yawn as he sat down on the opposite side of her.

"Wake me up when we get there."

**Hogwarts will obviously be next. I hoped y'all enjoyed the chapter**


	7. Chapter 7

**Huh, still inspired. Go figure but it took longer to write than I thought.**

**Also some people said Harry should hate muggles because he was beat by them/burnt at the stake/ and tried to commit their genocide but the fact is the new Harry was raised muggle as well as magical. He has a whole world view, pretty much a half-blood raising. **

**Also took longer to write then I though, I have two paper that count for a good chunk of my grade in two classes due this month along with three small essay for another class and research for another one. So yeah, pain in the fucking ass.**

**Chapter seven: Scariest of his house**

One thing Harry could remember during Tom's life after Hogwarts was that Tom had gotten very good at warding. Most of which he seemed to have perfected during his trip to Egypt.

He couldn't remember the specifics but he remembered how to do one thing. Or at least the subconscious of what remained of Tom did. Every night before he would go to sleep he would quickly cast a detecting ward over himself so that he would know if someone was going to sneak up on him while he slept. He got so good at it that his magic subconsciously started doing it for him every time he fell asleep.

And because it was something done by near instinct it was passed down to Harry. Every time someone or something got within two feet of him he would instantly wake. Added to the fact of his body's martial arts training you get a quick reaction that won't always be pleasant. This is the usual reason why his mother throws something at him to wake him up.

So when the door to the compartment slid open not even twenty minutes into his nap he was instantly awake with his body stiffening and coiling for an attack. But on the outside all you noticed was a small grunt and shift in his body like he was uncomfortable. Keeping his green eye open, and hidden behind his lenses, he looked at who would be stupid enough to enter the compartment.

"Um, is it okay if I sit here?"

Harry carefully eyed the girl in the doorway. She had bright strawberry blonde hair and an oval shaped face with a few regal like features starting to show as she entered her puberty. A pure-blood if he had to guess, especially since her clothes didn't have any Velcro, zippers, logos or any of the other modern markers that many of the clothes of the day had.

He could also tell she wasn't as nervous as she was acting, okay she was but more in the unsure about herself type of way than scared. So if her age didn't make it obvious enough she was a first year.

He could also tell half a dozen other things by her stance and how her eyes took them in or how he could guess what was in that small carryon bag of hers and how she held it showed her nerves more than her voice. But he didn't really bother. He could read her like a book already. A decent little girl that was curious and eager to make friends, even if they came from the muggle world.

Simply put, not a threat. More of annoyance though. Especially if she acted too innocent and naïve and forced his motherly side out. He was a male damn it! He shouldn't have such instincts.

Harry didn't make a sound or a move besides his steady breaths so Hermione assumed the boy was already asleep. So she answered "Of course" she answered with a smile and a whisper "But try to stay quiet, Harry is sleeping."

The girl gave a happy nod as she entered the compartment and sat next to Hermione to help keep quiet, never realizing the green eye that trailed her. "I'm Susan Bones by the way."

And from there the girl talk progressed for a few minutes, mostly talking about the school and what they expected of it. Though Susan seemed to go off tangent when she found out Hermione was muggle-born, though it was rather obvious.

"You're really from the muggle world?" she asked in wonder "What's it like?"

Hermione opened her mouth a bit but didn't really know how to describe her culture to her new friend "Um, it's nice? I don't really know enough about the magical world to properly describe it or tell you how different it is."

Susan seemed disappointed but still asked Hermione to try. Oh the poor girl tried, describing cars and television, which seemed to interest the young pure-blood but, it seemed it embarrassed her to no end. Harry would have laughed if he didn't want to get back to sleep undisturbed.

But it seemed fate didn't want him to sleep, he should have known since the damn train hadn't even started moving yet and most kids his physical age didn't give two shits about the world around them. So he didn't even need his alert ward for when the door opened again. "Susan! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you."

Harry let out a sigh as he adjusted himself in an obviously awake position. He gave an unseen irritated look to the girl in the door, though she could make out the sneer on his face.

The girl who decided to shout before she looked, a dumb habit, was around their age and seemed to be the tallest out of the three girls in the room, putting Harry at the shortest. Girls grew quicker than boys but when all was said and done Harry would probably tower all of them. But that was beside the point. The girl had long blonde hair that she let fall freely and her eyes were a soft brown.

Again Harry quickly evaluated the girl who entered and judged her to be roughly the same type as Susan, albeit more upfront and it would seem even less world aware.

"Sssh Hannah. Someone is trying to sleep in here."

Harry thought her warning was much too late so he just told them all he was up "Already up."

Susan's head spun to Harry with a surprised expression, with just a slight bit of horror to it "You're a boy?"

"What gave it away?" He asked with a slight drawl while having just a bit of sarcastic curiosity in it. Not the first time he's been confused for a girl, probably won't hear the last of it until mid-way through puberty. People see well kept hair passed the shoulder on a child they automatically assume girl.

Susan just blushed for a bit and looked down in an attempt to hide it.

Sighing Harry loudly cracked his neck, knowing he wasn't going to get sleep anytime soon he prepared himself to be the only male in the room. "You coming in?" he asked the still standing Hannah.

"Um, yeah." She said a little put off by the boy's behavior. Though Harry didn't care, neither were near as naïve or innocent looking as Hermione was when he first met her so the motherly instincts in him weren't making an appearance yet. Just the usual Harry attitude and he didn't have to worry about being too snippy or cruel here since his mum wasn't around.

After Hannah took a seat Susan started the introductions "Hermione Granger, meet Hannah Abbot, Hannah, Hermione Granger"

The two girls shook hands and said their hellos before the two new girl's eyes fell on Harry.

"What?"

"We were waiting for you to introduce yourself." Hannah said bluntly "Everyone else has so it's your turn."

Harry raised an eyebrow "That the rule?" he asked a bit sarcastically, he was tired and this girl woke him up for some trivial introductions. "Tch, fine. My name is Harry."

The two girls seemed floored for a second, eyes flickering to his forehead but couldn't make out the skin past the hair.

He was a bit impressed that they could connect the dots so quickly; then again their parents probably told them that Harry Potter was going to be on the train and he'd be their age. Still impressive that they placed the pieces so quickly though.

"W-what's your last name?"

"Cutting" Technically it was Cutting-Potter but he preferred Cutting. He'd save the Potter part for when he wanted to be more of a celebrity or attention.

"Oh." Susan said deflating from her excitement along with Hannah. Hermione looked at them strangely before asking a few of her own questions, mostly about what they knew of Hogwarts.

"I've done some reading on the four houses but I'm not really sure which one I'd fit. But I'm hoping for either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor."

"You're a Ravenclaw" Harry said without hesitation "Gryffindor would probably eat you alive and spit you out. You seem more the type to rely on books and stick to the rules, while Gryffindor usually go by their guts and don't give two damns if what they did is wrong as long as they can justify it as just" Tom had very firm views when it came to the houses, all had their merits and faults. There was well as a general attitude from the general populace for the members of each house.

"That's a bit harsh don't you think? And isn't that stereotyping"

"Yes, yes it is." And it is a good way to categorize people to get a tiny hint at their frame of mind. People from a certain group raised a certain way will act a certain way. It sounds stupid, it sounds ignorant on a few fronts but it usually helps you build a profile. What their parents taught them, how society tells them to act and how it views them, even the stories they read when they are young affects who they are when they are older. Simple."

"But that's horrid!" the muggle-born girl near yelled at him, obviously expecting better of her new found friend.

Harry just gave her a shrug, she was still young and probably couldn't understand it if she tried. Harry understood the human mind to a degree, probably better than he knew if he could unlock all the memories, with his decades of interacting and observing them as well as reading a few modern books.

"It works."

"B-but"

"He does have a point Hermione. Gryffindor aren't known for their brains, just for doing very brave and bold things, house of courage and all that." Hannah said

"It's how the school works." Susan added with a hint of her former shyness "Most people tend to act like their house dictates, at least vaguely. Not all the stereotypes fit EVERY one in the house but usually a few do."

"That's just wrong."

"Its how it's done." Harry said with a bit of finality in his voice to show that he was starting to get irritated with that part of the conversation "What houses do you two think you'll be in"

"Hufflepuff" Susan said happily "My aunty was a Hufflepuff and look at her now. She's the boss of all the Aurors!"

"Same, maybe Gryffindor but Hufflepuff seems better to me." Hannah said honestly "How about you?"

"Don't really care. I end up where I end up. Though my mum is betting on Slytherin or Ravenclaw, Grandpa is leaning towards Gryffindor with his money… Not really sure what Grandma bet on but I think it was Hufflepuff."

"I didn't know your family was taking bets on you… though it does sound like them." Hermione said finding the bet amusing.

Harry just shrugged not giving a damn. The houses really meant nothing if you knew the ins and outs of Hogwarts. The only thing that really mattered is who you got to know through those houses. Tom mostly recalled Hogwarts houses as the building blocks for politics and the best house for that was Slytherin. But Harry didn't give two damns about that. Right now was his childhood and sure he'll build a few bridges here and there but he was going to try to enjoy his life.

He might even try to get laid this year. God he missed sex.

He missed a lot of things that came with being older. But he was patient, no matter how much time seemed to drag he learned to be patient and use every possible second.

As the train eventually started to move the girls sped up their conversation, the subjects varied from one random thing to the next with no real order. The way most children talk. Harry didn't really pay attention and ignored many of the conversations.

"Speaking of boys" Hannah said making Harry to roll his eyes, that conversation was one of the most embarrassing conversations Harry had to listen to. Little girls trying to be mature by talking about how cute a boy was, it was awkward for all around. Especially Harry, while part his soul may have been from a female he was defiantly into girls. And the way these three went on and on and on, he was debating jumping out the window! "Can you believe the Boy-Who-Lived is actually going to be at Hogwarts with us? The same year even!"

"Really?" Hermione asked sounding very interested "I had assumed he would have been privately tutored or be too advanced to go to Hogwarts, with all the things he's done."

' "All I did?" I haven't done much besides go to school, some traveling and kicking Brian's ass at the gym' Harry though only now realizing that they never really explained to Hermione that he was adopted or what his birth name was.

"Do you think it's true he tamed a wild dragon?"

"Oh it has to be, after all he defeated You-Know-Who. What I'm wondering is if really did defeat seven Death Eaters, without a wand, by himself."

"Um, no and no." Harry said, though he was pretty sure he could do the Death Eater thing, they were a bunch of pansies who don't know how to properly duel, much less survive a real fight. The dragon, unless he brought out his special skill he doubted he could last with where his power is now.

"What?" Hannah asked turning her attention to Harry as did the other girls.

"Harry Potter has never even seen a dragon and hasn't seen a Death Eater since he was one, well besides the ones who bought their way out of jail."

"And you're saying you know more about Harry Potter than all these books why?"

"My birth name is Potter, I got adopted when I was five." He offered casually, not caring for one bit

Hermione who had just entered wizarding culture was only a little upset at the fact that she wasn't told sooner. While the other two girls seemed to think they were in the presence of some grand celebrity or deity. If everyone acted like that then Harry might get annoyed enough to punch them.

"Please close your mouths." Two loud clicks signaled that they followed his orders "Anyway, most those books are crap and are useless. I still don't get why grandpa doesn't want sue them yet but hey he knows money better than me."

"W-wait, wait a second. You are really The-Boy-Who-Lived." Hannah exclaimed "Why didn't you just say you were Harry Potter!"

Again, adopted. Though I have a dual last name now, I prefer to use only my adopted one as they are the ones who raised me." Harry drawled as he talked getting very quickly tired of the girls' rambling and apparent dumbfounded state.

Susan twitched in her seat shyly "Can we see the scar?"

Harry gave his lopsided grin "Show me one first."

Seeing confused looks and Hermione about to open her mouth to ask "what?" he explained "You show me a scar and tell me the story I do the vice versa. It's a good way to get to know someone" It was also a great way to show off your 'trophies' at the gym.

Hermione shared a strange uneasy glance with Susan while Hannah seeming to be the most forward of the group started to pat herself down trying to remember if she had any scars on her "Ok, let's see. Um"

Harry soon found that little girls didn't get many scars in this day and age, something he knew but still it usually worked with his friends at his muggle school. Then again they were mostly boys. Plus they were magic and usually had charms and potions to get rid of most scars, their loss.

He didn't dwell on the missed opportunity to get to know people, it was, admittedly a strange way but hey it worked for him. He just decided to use the opportunity to tease a bit "No scars? Really? Oh well, I guess you can't see mine"

"Hey come on, please." Hannah drew out the please a few syllables rather cutely but Harry seemed unaffected.

"Hmmm, no" His grin grew bigger but didn't seem to move from that one corner of his mouth. "I don't think I will. A scar for a scar."

He could tell he had creeped them out a little bit but he could live with that.

After a few more attempts at getting him to show his scar they started to again wander into different subjects until they fell into a semi comfortable silence. The only real interruption in their trip was when the trolley lady came by to offer them snacks. Hermione went on a little rant about how they shouldn't eat any of the candy but Harry just took a big bite of his chocolate frog and told her to shut up.

Harry was able to manage a nap on the way to the school, someone else tried getting into the compartment but Hermione managed to shoo them away because he was sleeping. She was a good girl. He was glad he kept her around.

Harry instinctively woke up as the train came to a stop and a small nostalgic smile came to his face as he started at the small village of Hogsmeade. He could nearly feel how excited Tom was when he first arrived at Hogsmeade but Harry found himself feeling nostalgia more than anything. Weird since most children were feeling an overwhelming amount of excitement.

He was a little surprised to see that the girls had already changed into their Hogwarts robes and he wondered when they were able to get out to change into them. Harry shrugged off his temporary confusion as he took his robes out of his trunk and put them over his muggle attire.

"You are supposed to put the uniform on under that." Hermione said sternly

"Can you tell that I'm not?" after a moment he got a negative shake "Then I'm good."

Hermione gave him an indigent scoff but he ignored her in favor of getting her trunk down. "Where did you two put your trunks?"

"In the cargo area in the back. That's where most people put them." Hannah said easily "Didn't you know"

He did but it was a lesser memory that was almost too foggy to remember, like trying to remember where the loo was at a restaurant you haven't been to in a few years. "Um, no."

The four soon to be Hogwarts student made their way off the train, with Harry and Hermione dragging their trunks behind them. As they walked down the path a bit they heard a booming voice call for the first years.

As they walked away from the older years and towards the voice Harry started to narrow his eyes. Standing by the lake and a series of boats was the large man who decided to burst into his family home not too long ago.

"First years over here, leave your trunks by the docks." He repeated the said phrase a few more times before it seemed like all the first years were there. "No more than four per boat!"

As they headed towards the boats and thus the man, Harry felt his anger boil over at the thought of the man who tried to take him away from his family.

Harry forced the left over motherly rage that Geneva held for the first Harry behind a few layers of occlumency shields. It wouldn't do for him to push the man in the lake in some childish rage.

Being back into his usual calm state Harry watched anxiously as the boats turned the bend for a sight he had not seen in years. Hogwarts.

Just like when he was Tom the first thing he noticed about Hogwarts was that it was huge, and as he found out later it was needlessly so. But the sight wasn't what truly enchanted him about Hogwarts. No it was the sense of power and life that gently rolled off it and seemed to caress every child like a mother would.

Hogwarts was a home many felt reluctant to leave at the end of the year. Harry would probably be the same but he had a family to go home to this time.

That thought still didn't stop the anxiety he felt as they neared the ancient stone building. He was feeling near giddy when they passed beneath the cliff entrance that lead to the underground harbor.

He near savored the feel of his foot meeting the stone floor of Hogwarts for the first time in decades. Shaking his head slightly so he didn't fall into a reminiscent daze, he looked ahead to the large oak front doors ahead of him.

When he finally made it to the top of the stairs with the girls closely following behind him, he saw McGonagall level her severe stare down at the first years which made many of them shift uncomfortably.

"All 'he firs' years 'ere and accounted for Professor."

The woman smiled at the man "Thank you Hagrid. I'll take them from here" The large man smiled at her briefly before waving to the children goodbye and entering behind the doors.

After he left the stern old woman turned her attention towards the first years "Welcome to Hogwarts." She paused briefly to sweep her gaze across the room so they knew the message was for all of them "The start of term feast will begin shortly. But before you can take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here your house will be something like a family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room."

The speech was obviously meant for first years and even more so for ones who were muggle raised. Needless to say Harry was getting bored out of his mind because he already knew all of what she was saying and just wished she would talk faster so he could get this over with.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin." If one listened carefully enough they would hear the emotion she put behind the first and last name she listed, pride in the first and a decent amount of what could be pinned down or called annoyance in the latter.

"Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

With that she motioned for the children to follow her as she opened the doors and started to walk down a hallway a few turns towards the Great Hall. Harry started to hum a bit in his anxiousness, for though he had the patience of an old ghost, he still also had the mentality of a an eleven year old boy about to experience something new. Which meant he had nearly no patience at the moment.

When she finally stopped in front of a pair of large grand looking wooden doors with a large amount of noise coming from behind them she stopped and turned to the new Hogwarts students "The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." She gave a few boys a stern look, "I will return when we are ready for you," Professor McGonagall said after she was sure the not so subtle message came across "Please wait quietly in the meantime."

Harry let out a decent sized yawn as a response making McGonagall briefly turn her gaze to him before heading into the noise filled room behind the doors.

"Didn't you get enough sleep on the train?" Hermione asked with more worry than anything else. Harry made a small mental note to teach her sarcasm.

"Yeah, now I'm just bored." His three companions looked amused at the statement before they overheard one of the louder boys say that the sorting was a fight with a mountain troll.

"It isn't really… You don't think?" Susan stuttered as she looked back at her group.

"You mean you don't know?" Hermione asked looking just as nervous and confused as Susan was. "I thought you would know, being wizarding raised and all."

"No, Aunty wouldn't tell me. Hannah?"

"My parent wouldn't tell me either. No matter how much I whined about it."

Hermione turned her gaze to a bored looking Harry "Do you know?"

"Hmmm?" Harry had actually started planning on how and when he was going to explore the castle later in the week so he was only half listening to the conversation "A talking hat."

The three girls looked at him like he was a fool "What, it's true."

"Sure it is."

Seeing no point in arguing with them about if he was lying or not, he let them go into their own little foolish theories about what they had to do to get into each house. The best one was Susan's suggestion of a puzzle, though he doubted many children would have the patience to deal with a puzzle.

But their little brain storm came to a halt as several students screamed and yelped as a large of ghost came floating out the wall. Many seemed to just have sweeped on by to get a brief look at the new children while the others seemed to have just been going with the flow of traffic more than anything else.

"I still say we should give him another chance." One of the fatter ghosts said to a particularly skinny one.

"Haven't we given Peeves all the chances he's deserved? He gives us all a bad name and you know. He's not really even a ghost."

As they floated by Harry wondered if they could see his soul like Geneva could and if they could did he look out of the ordinary in their eyes. They didn't seem to notice though, their eyes just went right passed him like he wasn't even there.

He actually thought that his soul might look normal until one ghost wrapped in chains and silver blood stains on his robes stared down at him from his spot in the air. He stared at Harry for so long that a few of the other students noticed and even got a little unnerved as neither of them said anything.

Eventually the ghost just floated away with a confused look on his gaunt face, leaving the group of children frightened and confused Harry.

"Harry, what was that?"

He just looked at Hermione for a second from behind his tinted lenses before shrugging, "No clue." He was more curious as to why the bloodied ghost stared at him and the others didn't. Was it because his soul looked strange under their sight or was it something else?

He'd have to ask another ghost if it is something looked off about his soul and if it's something else he would ask the ghost in chains directly. It was better to play blunt with most things.

Soon the doors to the Great Hall opened wide revealing the grand room in all its glory. It was awe inspiring for all who entered be it for the first time or the hundredth time.

The hall was probably one of the biggest rooms any of the students have ever seen or ever had seen in their lives. Filling up the room was four long tables that lead from the doors to a fifth table that was held higher and horizontally in relation to the others so that it could peer over the whole student body.

Countless candles were floating at different levels high above everyone's heads, shifting and drifting in the air giving the room an even coat of light. Each one of the four tables were color coated and had a banner hanging at the end with a coat of arms printed proudly upon it.

There was one emblazoned with a golden lion clawing at the red background. Another with a bronze eagle with its wings spread wide, blue as its background. Next was a yellow banner with a black badger in the middle. And the last had a silver snake coiling in the middle of a green background. Harry knew which banner belonged to which house, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin in that order.

But what was most amazing about the Great Hall was the ceiling. It was charmed and enchanted to reflect the sky outside. Stars and clouds were seen clearly in the candle lit hall.

As the group of eleven to twelve year olds walked into the Great Hall all the older students became quite and many seemed anxious as they watched them enter the Hall.

After telling the students to stay where they were McGonagall walked up towards the center of the room, right in front of the table that seemed to be for the teachers, where a stool with a beat up cloth hat on top waited for her. As she passed and went to take what looked like a scroll from off the teacher's table the cloth on the hat started to twist and turn until it held a vague semblance to a face.

The hat seemed to peer into the student body with its 'eyes' before opening what could have been its mouth and to the first years surprise, it started to sing.

Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can top them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.  
You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
If you've a steady mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folk use any means  
To achieve their ends.  
So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!

As it ended singing the tables of Hogwarts let out a loud applause with a great amount of cheering from the Gryffindor table. The only one who didn't seem to be responding to the song was Professor McGonagall as she unrolled her list "When I call your name please come up and sit on the stool." The first years started to fidget and shift in their nervous excitement as they waited to be called.

Harry didn't even bother with an 'I told you so' as he watched Hannah bounce on her toes, waiting to be called.

"Abbot, Hannah."

Hannah started to move forward with Susan and her two new friends all wishing her luck. It did not even take ten seconds of sitting on the stool before the hat shouted "Hufflepuff!"

Hannah smiled brightly as the Hat was taken off her head and waved to her friends as she made her way to the clapping table.

"Bones, Susan."

Susan gave a little gulp but didn't move until Harry nudged her forward. The Hat took a little bit longer on deciding where to put Susan but eventually settled with bellowing "Hufflepuff!"

Harry and Hermione clapped politely for their friend just like they did for Hannah.

"Now I'm going to be disappointed if I don't get into Hufflepuff" Hermione whispered to Harry sounding a little dejected and nervous.

Harry just shrugged "We end up where we end up. It doesn't mean we stop talking to each other." Hermione seemed to take that information to heart and smiled at him. Though he wasn't really paying attention, he was a little agitated as McGonagall moved into the Ds without calling his name.

The body may have been born a Potter but he had been raised as a Cutting. The name was important to him. But the only outward response he gave to this was a cluck of his tongue.

"Granger, Hermione."

Hermione took in a breath and put on a determined face as she started to stride forward, looking awkward at first but seemed to gain more confidence after Harry wished her luck.

Her sorting was one of the longest yet, but after taking a little over a minute the Hat had finally made its decision and seeming a bit happy at Hermione's challenge finished with "RAVENCLAW!"

Harry actually gave an unseen blink of surprise at the excitement and enjoyment in the Sorting Hat's voice but gave a congratulatory clap. She smiled at him and waved towards the Hufflepuff table before making her way to join her new house mates.

After she took her seat Harry waited patiently for the Ps to come up. He idly looked up at the teacher's table trying to get a read on some of them and maybe even have a guess at what classes they taught

The short little professor was defiantly a fighter, it wasn't that noticeable but someone who instinctively held their knife like that had seen some battle. And judging by the fact that his ears were at an elongated point and the shape of his nose was a little hooked he would say there was some goblin blood in him. His best guess was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Though something in the back of his head said if that was true he wouldn't see him at the end of the year.

Another person that caught his eye was a dark skinned beauty that couldn't be out of her twenties. Then again some forty year old witches didn't look out of their twenties if they were strong enough but that was beside the point. He couldn't really tell what she taught but she must have given a good many boys some wet dreams.

The Potions professor was easy enough to identify. The man obviously didn't bath after each time he made a potion as he was suppose to, thus giving his hair a near constant greasy sheen. It just another reason why he would dislike Potion classes during his stay at Hogwarts.

Harry made a dozen other little deductions until his gaze eventually fell onto the silver haired man sitting at the middle of the table on what seemed to be a posh golden throne. He already knew who the long bearded man was and he didn't trust nor like him. Whether it was because of Tom's disposition of him or maybe because he tried to butt in on his life, it didn't really matter though. Either way he didn't like the old man.

He had to repress a grimace as he noticed that the old man's twinkling blue eyes were locked on to him. He just adjusted his chin so it was obvious he was staring back at the old man. What the headmaster thought his stare meant, he didn't know, but Harry saw his stare as saying 'I know you're watching me.'

"Potter, Harry" Harry stopped his staring contest and stepped forward.

As Harry started to make his way towards the stool he could clearly hear the whispering that started to break out.

"Harry Potter? He's really here?"

"As in The-Boy-Who-Lived?"

"I thought that was a girl"

"I hope we get him in our house."

"What's that on his face?"

Harry ignored them for the most part after the girl comment. Most of what was being said was about what he expected.

Harry calmly sat down on the chair and waited for the Professor to place the hat on his head.

The boy was a bit surprised as the cloth was placed on his head and blocked his vision that something brushed his mind barriers. No, that wasn't what surprised him, what did surprise him was that after the Hat had brushed his shields, it seemed to side step them, and gained access to all of his memories

"Well, well. What do we have here?" Harry cursed internally and started to push the intruder out from THAT far in his mind. But it didn't work. The presence was like a rock in a stream and the attack just rolled off it like water. ""I must say, I was not expecting to see Mr. Riddle again."

"I'm not Tom" Harry thought knowing what he assumed was the Hat. He saw no way to block its presence as it seemed immune to Occlumency. But it didn't really matter since

"No you are not. That is certain. I have never quite met an individual quite like you. Interesting, a challenge," the Hat said sounding a bit giddy at the idea. Harry started to compare the Hat with Ollivander's "I heard that… And it's not the first time we've been compared. Now where to put you…"

"Hmm, old and patient, you have a good strive to gain knowledge. But for what use…. Ahhh, that is quite a lofty dream."

"Thank you." Harry said accepting the complement.

"To believe in your dreams and form your plans requires a great deal of ambition, so perhaps Slytherin… Oh… No, one comment about your family and you would harm half the students in that house… No, no, Slytherin won't do at all, the injuries of the students, and conflict would benefit neither you nor Hogwarts."

Harry visibly shrugged his shoulders much to the confusion of those watching "It would be their own fault."

"Hmmm, tell me do you suffer from a psychological version of the "monthly"? Because what I'm seeing in some of these memories seem excessively violent."

Harry's cheeks darkened a bit before he viscously disagreed "NO! I do not!" That was a very awkward and disgusting question.

"No need to shout. Now let's see, Rowena's house is still a good option but so are the other two. Let's take another look, go a bit deeper." There was a silence for a moment before it asked "Oh, there are some impressive barriers in the back here. Now what could you be hiding…" The Hat felt Harry's uneasiness and tapped into the reason why "Ah, the rest of the memories. I was wondering where all the memories of the terror Voldemort committed went."

After a quick moment of thinking Harry asked "Do you think you could remove them?" Despite the fact he knew why the memories were sealed he still wanted them, they were his and only getting fuzzy flashes and feelings pissed him off.

"Hmmm, no. Right now your body and mind would not be able to take the backlash of breaking open these floodgates. Now, pleasantries aside I must continue with the Sorting."

Harry could feel the hat sort through hundreds of different memories of his life, seemingly focusing on the years after the merge. "Now, I wouldn't call you brave. More like you have a total lack of fear with very few survival instincts still intact."

Harry saw one memory flash by and smiled "That was fun. Mum got angry but it was fun" Harry was sure the Hat was shaking its head at him as it moved through his mind again.

"I'm sure it was. Such a frightening child you are. Hmmm, I wouldn't call you chivalrous, not in the least but honorable yes. A bit of a twisted sense though. You lack caring for others and often look down on them but will defend them if you find the situation to be favorable… oh, or it demands your attention. But some of your habits might lead to some confrontations with the House. One of the big reasons being that you wouldn't hide your 'tongue'"

"It's a gift. There is no reason to be ashamed."

"Quite true. But that leaves you out of Gryffindor if you do not wish to be persecuted… You don't care. Fine but let's not put you there for the lack of bloodshed the decision would bring." The Hat seemed to hum a bit as it shifted through his memories and thoughts like paper work "I could put you in Ravenclaw but you seem too opinionated, most of them live by books. And I hesitate to put you in Hufflepuff for the simple reason that you don't trust and would probably start some sort of revolt of some kind."

"They do need a kick in the arse though, if they are anything like when Tom was a kid."

"Hmmm, you certainly are loyal enough for those whom you deem worthy or in need of it… you're a damn mother hen by the way."

"Hey! I never got to know my daughter so it's probably bled off from that."

"Yes, yes. Hmm. Yes, you can't really fit into any of the other houses' requirements so it better be…"

The Great Hall has been silent since the Hat was placed onto Harry Potters head but after the first two minutes whispering and muttering broke out between the students and even the faculty. When the five minute mark came some got agitated and when it neared ten minutes people actually got worried. But all noise ceased when they heard the Hat shout "HUFFLEPUFF!"

No noise was made at first as Harry hopped off the stool and took the Hat off his head but eventually Hufflepuff broke into a loud applause, quickly followed by the stunned applause by everyone else.

McGonagall blinked for a moment. She had fully expected James and Lily's son to end up in her house not the house for the supposed cowards. Shaking her head a bit she went to grab the Hat and read the next name but stopped when she heard it mumble "Bloody scariest child I have ever sorted."

**Sorry it took so long but I've been swamped with papers for my Criminal Justice and Sociology classes. Maybe I'll be quicker in November but I doubt it. I was boringly going to have this done about ten days ago, 10-10-10 at the latest but college is a psychic bitch that works with your job that makes sure you have no life or hobbies.**

**Also I've got a new beta team consisting of Xadro, SuperiorShortness, Nikkila, and Teufel1987. (though only two did anything this time, answer the mails you other two)**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story, peace.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I am trying, I really am. But shit is hard out here, job, school, and I'm pretty sure I'm going insane from a lack of sleep and no working out. Also I had to wait to get a new laptop, some internet scheme got my last one and I had to wait a month for it to come in. So sorry it took so long.**

**Also one review pointed out that the two-finger salute is seen as an insult somewhere so I'm going to explain that that wasn't what Harry was doing. It's a mock show of respect that turned into a hello for Harry. Index and middle held together ring and pinky held down by thumb.**

**There used to be a rant here about I hated Harems stories for the lack of heart and realism written by horny teenagers, and how I felt slash was usually a wrongly paired couple (Malfoys and or Snape to Harry) and that it dishonors Gays by not showing their struggle and making it seem like they were all cowards and wimps who will run away from everything instead of facing their damn problems (definitely not true, some of the bravest people in the world). And not only that, most the authors seems to make him gay right after a torture, rape or any other bad experience making it seem like being gay is only for the traumatized and fucked up in the head. But it ended up being about a thousand words long so it went bye bye. Oh there was a bit about Man-Pregnancy in there too (really? Fucking really?)**

**Oh and before anyone gets at me about being a hypocrite because I started a threesome relationship story, they happen, they're real and they are a pain in the ass to try and keep together. One leaves the other two try to awkwardly continue but it just isn't the same without the other third. Anyway, those stories can still have heart and realism behind it, so there.**

**Enjoy the long awaited chapter.**

**Chapter 8: Life at Hogwarts**

Harry lazily strolled over to where Hannah and Susan were sitting, ignoring all the other offers and spaces made open for him to sit.

"Wotcher" he said as he took a seat next to the two girls.

"Hey Harry! Glad to see you in our house!" Hannah said excitedly

"Hello Harry. I'm glad to see you here too but I wish Hermione was in the same house as us." Susan said as she glanced over to see Hermione looking over at them looking more than a little uncomfortable at the Ravenclaw table.

"She'll be fine. She's a big girl." Harry said while giving his mock salute over to her. She returned it with an unsure wave.

It took another ten minutes for the Sorting to finish and by this time everyone was feeling a grumble in their stomach.

As soon as a darker skinned boy named Zanbini was sorted and took a seat at Slytherin Dumbledore stood up and looked over the crowd with a smile. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. And to our first years, welcome…"

Harry listened to the old man prattle on for about a minute more before only giving him half an ear while his mind wandered. He didn't think about much this time, just rooms that he could scarcely remember and which ones would be useful.

There were the two lesser halls that were once used to house the students while they ate but after the boom in population about two hundred years ago it became common practice to eat in the Great Hall. Of course the population took a drastic turn in the last century because of the two wars. That aside, the two halls would be relatively empty besides anything the staff stored in there.

Even though he would probably use one of the two halls more there were several empty rooms scattered around the campus. There were some rooms he couldn't remember but knew they were Very important and it was driving him a bit stir crazy not knowing. What could they be?

Harry ripped himself out of his thoughts when the Headmaster ended his speech and the food appeared. Instead of going right to his food like many others were he turned to Susan and asked "Hey, did he just call us dimwits?"

Susan shook her head "No, I think he was just saying that. My Auntie says that he's a bit of a nutter."

"And he's still teaching kids, great." Susan made some comment about how he was still one of the greatest minds in Britain but Harry stopped listening in favor of digging into his food. He frankly didn't care, he may be smart but Harry still didn't like Albus Dumbledore.

Harry ate somewhat sparingly as he poked the meat on his plate. He missed his mum's and grandmum's cooking. They weren't those uppity rich people that would have someone cook every meal for them, so they refused the house elves his grandfather offered to buy to do the chore. Harry was glad he didn't because there was just something about food made by people you love that made it taste better. And this Hogwarts food, while good, just didn't feel right on the tongue. It just didn't have that taste and feel of slightly burnt home cooked food.

Hogwarts was going to take more getting used to than he thought if the food was already making him homesick.

The fact that the idiots to his side and in front of him were trying to get his attention only added to his irritation. He stabbed at the meat a few more times before lifting his face to match the height of what he guessed was a second year in front of him "Listen, doll, I really don't want to talk right now. If you can't tell that from the lack of words coming out of my mouth than we are going to have problems at our lovely little stay at Hogwarts."

The second year girl moved her jaw for a few seconds before it snapped closed and she nodded her head, the other students around her doing a similar reaction.

"Nice, Harry, real nice" Hannah said as she shook her head at the famous boy.

Harry just ignored her and broke off the piece of boiled pork he'd been stabbing for the last few minutes and stated chewing. Definitely not home cooked. Sighing he started to stuff the rest of the meal down his gullet in a rather dignified fashion, a habit he picked up from his grandfather. No one really bugged him much after his comment to the girl so he had a relatively easy meal.

Desert was a similar affair, except for one of the overly friendly Hufflepuffs trying to make conversation with him again. He sighed as he swirled around the bits of crust and blueberries from the pie he had mashed in his homesick boredom. It just didn't meet his grandmother's standards.

Harry snapped out of his thoughts as the food vanished and Dumbledore rose from his chair with a faux cough to gain the student bodies attention. "Just a few words now that you are all now fed and watered. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is indeed forbidden to all pupils, and a few of our older students would do well to remember this as well." The headmaster stopped his speech momentarily to give an amused glance towards that Gryffindor table. "Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to also inform you all that there is no magic in the halls between classes. Quidditch trials are in the second week of term, anyone wishing to join their House team should speak to Madam Hooch."

Dumbledore took another slight pause but this one wasn't out of amusement of any variation or type. What he was about to say was serious and that got Harry's attention, one of the important things he could remember from his past life's stay at Hogwarts was that when Albus Dumbledore is about to say something important everyone better listen. "And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who doesn't want to die a very painful death."

A few people laughed, mostly the younger Muggleborn students, everyone else just stared at him unsure or knowing that what he said had truth in it. In the corner of his eye he could see Susan shift uneasily, Hannah was probably doing the same thing but hiding it better. Harry stole a glance at the Ravenclaw table to see Hermione's reaction, she was one of the ones that laughed but it seemed she was getting the point when barely anyone else joined in. She started to look scared.

Harry on the other hand just made a note to visit the floor eventually. It would be interesting to explore if only to pass the time. But he had to wonder what Dumbledore was doing putting something that could potentially kill a child in a school, even going so far to include the older students who were trained enough to be able to use their wands as weapons into the list of potential kills. He could have said that it was just forbidden or dangerous but he outright said they would die ,it was like he was trying to bait someone.

"And now, before we go to bed let us sing the school song!" as he was torn from his thoughts by the headmaster's voice Harry was barely able to subdue a groan when he heard those words. He had hoped that when the Headmaster of Tom's time passed on that Dumbledore would not carry on his aggravating tradition of making every student stand up and sing that horrible song.

With a slight flick of his wand Dumbledore had conjured up a stream of golden ribbon, spelling out the lyrics for all those who weren't familiar. "Now everyone, pick your favorite tune, and off we go."

For the next three minutes the students and faculty were treated to a horrible sound of their own creation, fun for some torture for others. No one was in synch, tempos and pitches ranging too widely to have any real pattern. It was a horrible experience.

When everyone finished, at very different times, Dumbledore let out a sigh of content, "Ah music, a magic beyond all we teach here." The old man wiped his eyes "And now, bedtime. Off you trot." Harry just shook his head at the old man and began to follow the mass of Hufflepuffs.

While the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws went up the stairs the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins stayed on the ground floor but went in two separate directions. Harry could vaguely remember where each one of the dorms were and digging down into his memory he remembered that the Hufflepuff dormitory was, unlike the other houses, was on the ground floor and was probably the most welcoming to outsiders than any of the other houses. The Hufflepuffs never really hid where their dormitory was like the other houses, people just never asked, looked or noticed where it was. Harry honestly wondered if Lady Hufflepuff was the fool everyone thought she was for putting children in such an obvious place in that age or if she was overly optimistic about talking out problems.

The entry way to the Hufflepuff "Den" as the perfect who led them affectionately called it was a large archway that seemed to welcome to everyone, and if that didn't drag them over the waving portrait of a man in Lincoln green cloth over chain mail. "Good Eve everyone!" he chirped merrily startling a few of the non-magic raised children.

Harry tilted his head, the man in the portrait looked familiar from somewhere but he couldn't place his finger on it. He never came through the normal Hufflepuff entrance when he was Tom, always the secret entrance to the back right of the common room, so he didn't know him from entering the house. The hat he wore had a slight upward curve to it and a red feather decorated the top and his cheery smile seemed to be framed by his curly moustache. They all reminded him of something but it wasn't till he saw the quiver of arrows on his back and a bow on his lap that he pieced it all together.

"_Merde_," was all he could say as he stared at the portrait dumbfounded. He honestly didn't think the man even really existed, just a fairytale to tell children at night but you couldn't make a magical portrait of someone that hadn't existed. Well not one that was so realistic and actually talking back to you.

The perfect smiled and made a grand gesture to the painting "Everyone, this is Sir Hood. He's the one who guards our entrance"

"And I do very well I assure you." He puffed his chest out a bit in pride.

Harry looked around the group of first years to see if anyone else made the obvious connection, the ones that did seemed about as speechless as Harry was a moment ago. So he figured he might as well be the one to ask and make sure he wasn't hallucinating "Is that really who I think it is?"

Harry's question got a smirk from the portrait "Ah! Recognized me have you? It seems my tale still lives on in the passing generations." He seemed to deflate a bit before continuing "Though not many in our world seem to wish to remember me because I preferred my bow over my wand to get the job done. Such a spiteful we are." He put his hand to his forehead and did an over dramatic 'woe is me' pose, causing many of the children to giggle and snicker. Harry was still a little dumbfounded, but at least now he knew that Hufflepuff without a doubt had the coolest portrait guarding their door.

Than another thought came to him "So the Fat Friar is…"

Sir Hood laughed "Friar Tuck. Unfortunate bloke still feared death when he passed on. Got stuck he did. Came here for the company and got stuck with that nickname." He let out another laugh at his friend's expense, Harry was pretty sure it was about the nickname and not the death. Unless the Friar's death came about by him doing something hilariously stupid.

The perfect gave the first years the ridiculously easy to remember password of Nottingham and with a final wave to the students Robin Hood flung his portrait open.

The Hufflepuff Common Room was a large cozy looking room decorated in yellow and black. In the center of the room was a lit fire pit where the smoke disappeared two feet above the flames and all the large plush chairs and sofas seemed to facing towards it. A few tables were kept in a near sporadic nature around the room but they all kept clear of the four doors of the room.

As they entered Harry made a vague note that one of the few bookcases in the room was now partially blocking the secret passage way. That would have to be fixed later on.

"Now all you first years stand up front and center and introduce yourselves. No real order needed just let out some basic facts" The new Hogwarts students glanced at each other nervously "Come on we all had to do it. Its not that bad. Just your name, birthday and a few likes and dislikes and you're fine." The Perfect, and most of the older students, plopped down on one of the sofas after turning some of them in their general direction.

All the first years shifted nervously in their places, no one really wanting to be the first to speak up or they just didn't care. Well, there was one exception.

"Hi! I'm Hannah Abbot" The blonde said in an excited tone, obviously happy to meet new friends "I turned eleven in June and I like Chocolate Frogs and swimming…. That's all I can think of right now but I look forward to getting to know all of you!" Many of the older students laughed at her eagerness and even cheered for her for being the first to go. Hannah just smiled through her applause before returning to the crowd of first years and pushing Susan out in front of the senior years.

"Um…" Susan glanced back at Hannah and Harry looking afraid and searching for support. Hannah smiled and gave a 'go on' motion not looking the least disturbed about the fact she just tossed her friend into the spot light, while Harry just gave her a lazy grin.

"M-my name is Susan Bones… I'm eleven and I like story books." Susan shifted her feet "Um, I like playing with Hannah and uh, I like candy quills." She looked at the older kids to see if that was enough for them, after seeing that it was apparently enough she rushed back to Hannah and Harry.

Some looked to Harry expecting him to go up next since his two friends just did but he remained where he stood and the others were forced to move on. Harry listened carefully to the short list of students, seven out of the thirty-one new students, and tried to get as much as he could out of every introduction; Megan Jones, Wayne Hopkins, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Ernie Macmillan. He would be spending a lot of time with all of them so he did his best to pick up the details so he knew who he could at least stand to talk to.

When it came to be his turn he just stepped up, no big entrance or grand stance like people expected from the last kid up or the Boy-Who-Lived, and started to introduce himself "I'm Harry Cutting. I like practicing Muay Thai and watching a good duel. My favorite food is a tie between a cheese burger and bouillabaisse, I hate those every flavored beans. Guess that's it."

Harry said this all in such a bored stand offish tone that anyone who wanted to ask a question or have him expand on his introduction stopped themselves. So far the Boy-Who-Lived did not seem like a Hufflepuff.

"Okay, now that we know each other, it's getting late so let's show you to your rooms." The perfect said as he stood up from his spot on the coach "Sarah you get the girls, I'll get the boys."

The dorms in Hufflepuff were, like the other years, separated by year but with two years per designated floor with Seventh years basically getting a grand end of Hogwarts treatment on the fourth. The Perfect just showed them to the first floor and pointed to the door on the right. "Your luggage should be next to a bed inside, to get to the bathrooms just go back to the common room and go to the door labeled. Enjoy your sleep."

The four eleven year olds shuffled into the room and started to search for their beds. Harry was pleased to see that he was at the far wall near the window, and if it wasn't charmed to be locked it would make for a great exit. Seeing how it was late and he had woken up early Harry started to undress to his boxers and his under shirt with no shame. Rolling his shoulders for a second and not paying his roommates any attention he plopped into the bed, closed his eyes and took off his glasses.

As he was about to drift to sleep he heard a voice call out unsurely "Um?'

"What?" Harry asked not even bothering to open his eyes to look at who was talking to him.

"Shouldn't we, you know… get to know each other better before we go to sleep?" the nervous voice said irking Harry's patience.

"We have a whole year to get to know one and other, one night isn't going to hurt things." Harry shifted the comforter over himself and faced away from the boys, hoping that they got the point that he was tired and that they should leave him alone. It took a few minutes of them muttering to themselves for them to get the point that he wasn't going to talk and moved on to do their own things.

The next morning Harry was the first to wake and the first thing he did was to roll out of his bed, landing on his stomach, and started to pump out a set of pushups to wake himself up. He did them passed the point of wakefulness and pushed himself until a slight sheen of sweat appeared on his brow. Satisfied that he now deserved a shower he stood stretching his back and went to his trunk to and retrieved his towel, his toothbrush and a change of clothes.

Walking passed the common rooms he noticed that a few others were awake but were too groggy or busy to notice him moving about. Harry went to the male bathroom and took a nice long shower. He took a good chunk of that time making sure to wash his neck length hair with great care, though he made a mental note that next time he would bring down his own supplies instead of the ones left to them by the school, he could already feel the damage that the cheap shampoo was doing to his hair.

Finishing his shower he draped his towel over his wet hair and started to brush his teeth, making small mental lists of what he would have to do for the day and how much of his knowledge he should show during classes. Though he knew he didn't need to hold back much as he was 'The-Boy-Who-Lived' and the people of Wizarding Britain were expecting him to do great things and that included being a prodigy in magic. He smiled at the thought of a 'meager' and 'weak' Hufflepuff outclassing everyone else in his year and a few above.

Spitting out the paste into the sink and rinsing his mouth out he started to dry his hair as he made his way out of the bathroom. As he exited he absentmindedly noticed that both Hannah and Susan were awake and seemed to be on their way to do their own morning rituals. Deciding to be friendly and irritate Hannah at the same time he walked over to them to say hello, adjusting the towel on his head to hall over the right side of his face effectively hiding his scar from her.

"Good morning, Susan, Hannah." Harry said with his lop sided grin, which grew wider when the two of them jumped in surprise.

The girls turned their attention to their smiling friend and were about to yell at him for scaring them, well Hannah was, but stopped short when they realized he was no longer wearing those strange tinted lenses of his. From the eye they could see they could tell he had beautiful almond shaped emerald eyes. Though Hannah started to fume when she noticed she still couldn't see his scar. 'The ponce is probably doing that on purpose' Hannah thought but she really couldn't tell because besides his smile there was no other emotion on his face.

"Good morning, Harry" Susan greeted with a smile, with Hannah letting out a grumpier one after her. "How are you doing today?"

"Doing fine so far, you two?"

"Very well, thank you." "Good" Hannah started to crane her neck at different angles seeing if should get a peak under the towel but to no avail. She let out a small huff as she started to contemplate if she could take the towel off his head quick enough to prevent him from stopping her.

Harry felt satisfied at Hannah's displeasure and smiled a tiny bit wider when he weaved passed her grabbing hand. After three tries she gave up and gave him a pout realizing that she wouldn't win. "Well I'll let you two get back to what you were doing, see you two at breakfast." Harry gave them a quick goodbye and moved towards the first year dorms, keeping an eye on Hannah in case of a sneak attack from behind.

In the first year boy's dorm his roommates were just starting to groggily make their way through the room. Harry gave the room a loud good morning before making his way to his bed to retrieve his sunglasses. It wasn't that he was ashamed or bothered by his eye it was just that he found everyone's first reaction to it amusing and wanted to wait for the right moment, that and the gawking got annoying.

Folding the towel onto his quickly made bed Harry started to dig into his trunk for his hair brush. He knew that as he brushed his hair that he received some strange looks from his roommates but he couldn't find himself to care, his hair had taken enough damage that morning and he was not going to skip the brushing.

Around the thirty fifth brush stroke the boy named Ernie decided to say something "Um, how long are you going to brush your hair?"

"Till it's done"

"But only girls and poufs spend that much time doing their hair."

"Or I could just care that my hair doesn't look like a rats nest." Harry replied evenly.

Ernie looked at him like he was crazy "But you're The-Boy-Who-Lived! You're supposed to be tough! Not some Nancy boy!"

Harry turned towards his housemate and raised an eyebrow above his tinted lenses "Do you really want to test this, kid" by no means was Harry's voice upset or angry, more like challenging. Like he wanted Ernie to say or do something stupid so he could show him just how 'tough' he could be. The grin that started to plaster itself to bi-colored eyed boy's face didn't help either.

Ernie backed up a pace when Harry decided his hair was good enough for the moment and stood to stare him in the eye. "Come on, prove you're tougher than me, that I'm a 'pouf'" Harry said challengingly while tracing an x on his chest "Right here, X marks the spot. Do it. Come on, I dare you, I want you to. Try it, see how it turns out… come on, hit me"

Harry knew what he was doing, the jumbled up sentence he just said had a purpose. It wasn't quite psychological warfare but close. He wanted to make the whole school realize he wasn't someone to mess with and starting with a roommate that was slowly showing himself to be an arse was a good way to start it. Rumors spread quick and if one worked it right they could mean power and an instant uplift in social power. Though to many people this may just seem like a pissing contest.

"Y-you're crazy"

Harry shrugged and grabbed his robes from his trunk, tossing them over his casual clothes not caring to put on the uniform "Not really. You challenged me, I stepped up, you backed down."

Ernie stuttered for a bit but Harry ignored him choosing to say a casual hello to Justin and Wayne. Those two he wouldn't mind to get to know better, Ernie maybe when he wasn't being an ass.

Breakfast wasn't that eventful besides getting their schedules and convincing Hermione to come sit with them. The poor girl was having a hard time assimilating even with her fellow book worms but at least she had some friends at the Hufflepuff table, even if one seemed to be babying her a bit. "So we have potions and defense together, as well as astrology." Susan pointed out as she compared the Ravenclaw schedule to the Hufflepuff schedule.

Hermione bit her lip and turned to Harry "Harry, are you sure you mum was right about the telescopes?"

Harry stopped his chewing and swallowed the bit of pancake before he turned to answer her "I'm not sure, but it's not like the other ones are that expensive if they are." The girl didn't look that convinced but seemed to take what he said for now.

Classes didn't start for another week so in the meantime Harry explored the castle both with and without the girls. He was able to remember most of his old shortcuts around the castle but he still couldn't remember the rooms he forgot. Though Harry did show them one of the minor Halls playing it off as an accidental finds and even suggested that they use it as a practice room for their magic. While he did like expanding his knowledge on his own there was an attraction to watching the girls learn magic and helping them dig through it. It must have been the mother in him.

During that week he sent a letter home telling them how he was, about the friends he made and what House he was in. He almost burst out laughing when his mother sent him a reply that spent half the page going on how he lost his "poor mother" thirty galleons to his gloating grandmother. He managed just to keep it as a small smile as he wrote his reply.

Also during the week the Hufflepuff house had two traditions that Harry was unaware of. One was that the Head of House wanted to talk to each and every one of her new badgers. Professor Sprout was honestly a sweet lady in Harry's opinion. A bit too motherly for his taste but nice all the same.

The second was their mentoring system. It was when a seventh year took a first year under their wing and answered any question the younger students might have. Who Harry was assigned to was a very, odd girl. Her name was Nymphadora Tonks. She was a clumsy and cheerful girl that didn't seem to mind that her hair changed color with her mood. When she said she was a Metamorphmagus Harry whistled in response before telling her he was a Parselmouth, even said hello to her in Parseltongue. When she fell out of her chair in shock Harry started to shake in suppressed laughter.

The two of them did get along well enough though, even if she did ask him never to talk 'like he was spitting at her' again. And since the whole school didn't know how he could talk to snakes he was guessing she was trying to forget about that particular talent of his. Though that didn't seem to stop her from talking to him, a lot, every chance she got. He supposed she was either a bit star struck or taking the mentoring tradition seriously. She was bearable though, mostly because she was entertaining.

The first year Hufflepuffs first class the following week was Charms with the Slytherin first years. A few of his year mates expressed concern over this but Harry didn't really care. He may believe in classifying people to build a profile but that gives a general view not a specific view of who the person is, especially if it was on something as so general as the House they were placed in. It was like saying all Americans were cowboys who jumped in fist cocked and guns out or that all French people were snooty, even if a good general amount seemed to be that way it doesn't represent all of them. Besides it was only their first year the Houses have yet to add their culture into the children yet.

As Harry, Hannah and Susan arrived to the class room they idly noticed, mostly Harry noticed, that all the Slytherins were already there. Not that surprising since it was only three minutes before classes began but still it was the whole year. Harry and the two Hufflepuff girls started to make their way to their seats when a blonde boy stepped in to Harry's way and started to introduce himself.

"You must be Harry Potter. My name is Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

The boy offered his hand and Harry being raised by grandfather who was a business man shook it immediately with a firm grip, not too strong but it did make the other boy wince for whatever reason. "My last name is actually Cutting now but I can understand the mix up." He said as he let the boy's hand go "My grandfather has spoken of your family before."

He had and it was mostly going on and on about how Draco's father was a spoiled brat they just spent his family's money with little care to earn more or spread his influence further than Wizarding Britian. There were also a few words that got him smacked by the woman of the house for saying them in front of 'their innocent baby boy'.

"Really now?" Draco said in a culturally intrigued way "Then you _were_ raised by the right sort then."

Harry cut him off before he could speak more "My grandmother is a Muggleborn." He knew this speech; Tom was given a very similar and less friendly version when he arrived to Hogwarts. That is until he spoke the tongue and started casting back.

"Oh…" Draco trailed off a bit, like he was unsure for a moment how to properly approach the situation diplomatically. "I am sure she… knows the right sort as well."

"That she does, and she taught me how to tell the right sorts from the ones who think they are." Tom would have been more subtle but Harry liked direct. Direct got things done, it was even better when you can make it look like it's subtle. "And you are quickly proving to be the second." But just going right to the heart never hurt much either.

Draco gritted his teeth subtly, doing his best to keep his cool as the cultured pureblood he was. He could see, even for his lack of experience despite his raising, he was losing control of the path of this conversation or had already lost it. It would be best to retreat and try to build a bridge later. "Perhaps I can convince you otherwise later."

It wasn't a question, it was statement the other boy said with such confidence that it seemed the he was sure Harry would think the same. Doubtful.

"Perhaps"

As Malfoy walked away Harry had to repress the urge to shake his head like he just saw a child do something stupid in trying to be an adult. He did but he didn't want to advertise it.

Harry took his seat next to Hannah and took out the supplies needed for class.

As he prepared his quill he mildly debated if he wanted to ask his mother to send some pens with a quill tip. While he had enough memories and personal experience with a quill they were a pain in the ass to prepare, use and even clean up after. He supposed he was stuck for now but still.

Not even a minute later Harry got a surprise, the goblin blooded teacher he saw the other night was apparently not the Defense teacher but the Charms teacher.

"Hello everyone!" The little man greeted as he climbed up onto a stack of books behind his desk which he used as a makeshift perch to be seen by the class. His voice was high pitched and a few of the other children couldn't hold in their giggles at it. The teacher seemed to take it with good humor by just shaking his head and chuckling.

As roll call came around Harry was once again irritated to find he wasn't under the C catergory and even made a point to inform the teacher of this when they came up to his name in the Ps.

"It's Cutting, sir."

The Professor paused mid check and looked at Harry "Excuse me."

"My name is Harry Cutting, sir. I do not go by the Potter surname very often."

"Ah" The teacher said near dismissively before making a note in one of his books "I will try not to make that mistake again mister Cutting"

The first charms class was not that interesting, just an introduction to the class, what was about, what they would be doing and what was so great about the subject. Transfiguration followed about the same way later in the day but Professor McGonagall seemed a little put out by his correcting of surnames.

Being first years they never had many classes that took up time so after lunch they were free for the rest of the day. Up till around six Harry spent time with the girls but his body started to itch for its regular movements. He always worked out either around six or three so around both these times he felt a short burst of adrenaline from anticipation and used that as motivation to work out.

After doing some basic warm ups and running up and down the stairs near the old Hall Harry started to spar against an invisible opponent. Weaving and bobbing around invisible blows while sending a flurry of quick jabs and properly placed heavy hitters. Making a grab for where the opponents head should have been he pulled down hard while lifting his knee up harshly.

"That would of hurt" came a cheerful voice that interrupted him from starting another round with his faux opponent.

"Wotcher, Tonks," Harry said casually wiping the sweat from his brow and subtly moving hair in front of his right eye.

"Wotcher, Harry!" she responded cheerfully and walked over to him, stumbling only slightly over her feet "It's getting close to curfew so they sent me to get you, the girls ratted you out by the way."

Harry nodded. He figured that one of the two Hufflepuff first years would tell so that he wouldn't get a detention, more likely Susan than Hannah. "Okay, just give me a mo." A moment later, Harry had his folded robe under his arm and his sunglasses back on his face.

On the way back they chatted for a little bit, mostly about how it was cool he knew martial arts and how she wanted to learn some. Harry instantly denied any teaching request since he knew he wasn't good enough to teach, yet. That got the older girl pouting and doing the most impressive doggy eyes he had ever seen. But even a Metamorphmagus puppy eye pout would not change Harry Cuttings mind once it was set on something.

The next day Harry had double Potions and flying classes later in the afternoon. Since it was a double class Harry doubted it would just be a simple intro to the class to today. It was more likely they would discuss theory before moving on to a quick potion.

And he would be sure to bring a hair tie. There was no way in hell that any amount of that greasy potion was going to get in his hair. Maybe there was a spell out there that would to help protect it, definitely something worth looking into.

As the first year Hufflepuffs made their way to the dungeons for lessons, many of them whispering about what they heard about the professor, Harry found it harder and harder to see. He didn't understand why he went out with his glasses enough at night to be used to the dark. Hell there were even a few windows but it didn't help much. He didn't mind, he was going to take them off for the lesson anyway, some potions blew up and he didn't want to know how the potions would react to the metal, plastic and glass.

When they finally got to the class room and found it even darker than the hallways Harry let out a sigh before pulling off his glasses and stashing them in an inside pocket of his robes. Not even bothering to adjust his hair to be in the way of his eye he took a seat near Hermione in the middle of the room.

Why she was in the middle of the room and not in the front trying to scoot her chair closer was beyond him. But at least he didn't have to sit in the front now.

Hermione was nose deep in her potions text trying to do some last minute cramming for class.

"Hermione, It's the first class. There is very little need to study." Hermione just waved off his concern and went back to reading saying she needed to be prepared.

Susan and Hannah, being none the wiser of what he looked like when he wasn't hiding his eyes took their respective seats near him and took out their supplies. Even as the last of the students trickled in the teacher still didn't make an appearance till near two minutes later. A rather overly dramatic entrance in Harry's opinion, the whole slamming his office door open and walking in with his robes billowing behind him seemed unnecessary.

"Take your seats" he said in a near dismissive tone as he made his way to the front of the class. He pulled out a rolled parchment and went down the list doing a standard roll call. Again he was skipped over in the Cs and when the name Potter came up he couldn't even correct the teacher as he spoke "Ah, Mr. Potter, our… new _celebrity_." The man drawled as he barely looked at Harry before snapping his head back towards the boy.

Those eyes.

Those eyes were not natural.

Those almond shaped eyes held an intensity that came from age but they kept a youthful light that seemed to make them glow. They were deep, penetrating, and even in their relaxed half lidded stated seemed to be ever attentive. And behind all that was something bestial, something feral. Those eyes didn't belong on a child.

But what made them so unnatural was the color. Two such different colored eyes, emerald and ruby, holding such identical gleams and lights but still seemed so separate. The emerald eye reminded him painfully of a love he let slip through his fingers and the ruby reminded him too much of the twisted man who went on a genocidal campaign, and it was all framed on a softer version of the face he learned to hate in school. The elongated lightning bolt scar that ran past the red eye and on to his cheek only enhanced an image he didn't know what to make of.

It was a frightening and painful experience just to look upon this boy. The only reason why he wasn't showing all this emotion on his face was due to years of practice in the mind arts.

"Do you think you're funny Potter, Coming into class like that?"

Harry just raised a brow in a curious manner "What do you mean, sir?"

"Don't play daft, Potter. Your eye, why is it like that?" Now the whole class was staring at his face and focusing on his right eye. Some gasped in surprise, others just stared but Harry couldn't enjoy it at the moment.

"When I was younger my eye was damaged and while it healed it changed color. It called Heterochromia" Next to him he noticed Hannah staring intently at his scar before giving a victorious smile. He repressed a sigh at his lost battle. He knew he would lose it during the class but it was still annoying.

Curious the black eyed professor asked "And how was it damaged?"

"Children are cruel." Harry responded dryly, as if that was all that was needed to be said.

Snape just gave a nod of his head before forcing himself forward with his class. He was too shocked, or maybe even afraid, to try anything.

**Well that's it for now. I originally planned for this to go all the way to the troll but figured this was a little better. I think there should only be about 3-4 chapter per year till fourth year. **

**Im honestly not all that happy with this one but I hope ya'll enjoyed**

**Also a hint on what will happen to me in a few months. HOOORAH!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Marine pre-training is killing me. I can barely feel my lungs anymore and my legs and arms feel like jelly. Boot camp is going to suck but that is months off**

**Also, some shameless advertising. Please check out my Danny Phantom/PPG fanfic, Loving Heroes. It is lonely and needs people to read it. **

**Also, yes I know about my grammar problems. I'm trying to fix them but I write how I talk and my speech is very slangish and twisted. I will go back and try to further edit the older chapters. Old reviews will be looked at for guidance in where the faults lay. But I'm pretty confident my grammar is getting better. And it's not my beta's fault, he tries but he and me usually argue how to spell words, ex "honor/honour". People who want to be a beta are welcomed to raise their hand and I'll peek at them to see if they are what I want. I look for harsh reviewers and they are usually the ones I send a PM to asking them… not a lot of them. Though I do appreciate the 'good jobs' not quite as productive as those several paragraph long reviews berating you.**

**Chapter nine:**

Severus Snape sat in his quarter's lounge and sipped on a glass of firewhiskey at four in the afternoon. Drinking so early wasn't something he would usually do but he needed it.

That Potter boy disturbed him. Reminding him of a person he loved, a person he hated and a person whom he feared all at the same time. He didn't know where to direct his emotions or react.

He felt on edge throughout the class. Like he was being judged for each step he took, each instruction he gave, for every point he took or gave. He never felt like that in his own classroom, it was supposed to be his domain. But for that one class he felt trapped, cornered.

It was like some great beast was sitting there in the middle of his class just staring at him like he was the prey.

He definitely needed a drink to calm his nerves. The fact he had another class with the boy later in the week made him feel the need for another glass.

Dumbledore could wait an hour or a day before he heard about Potter's first class.

-0-

Harry was enjoying himself.

One of his roommates had the bright idea of having some bonding time and whatever higher power there is bless Justin for recommending Poker.

"Three of a kind, kings." Harry said with a half grin, making the other boys groan as he racked in another addition to his pile of sweets. He wasn't going to eat most of, his instructors and mother had drummed a healthy diet into his head, he'd probably share with the girls.

"Why does he always win?" Wayne complained as he slammed his pair of fives onto the table and tossed the rest of his cards in Harry's direction.

"I don't know, it's like the third hand in a row that he's won." Justin said with a mock pout, which only served to make Harry's lip twitch a bit more.

Ernie grumbled something about him cheating at the 'stupid Muggle game'. Harry just rolled his eyes under his glasses. He wasn't cheating, he just read their body languages and faces so well that their pathetic attempts at a poker face failed. That, and he was also unnaturally lucky.

"Just deal the next hand" Harry said a bit lazily, anticipating another winning hand.

"But I don't have anything left" Ernie complained.

"Then you should have folded like those two. Instead you called and raised me. Bad call"

Ernie sent him a controlled glare. He was still wary around Harry. It was a combination of their first morning living together and his eyes. Those eyes were just creepy, he was actually grateful he wore those dark glasses all the time.

Justin did the honors of dealing to next hand and Harry instantly looked at his roommates faces. Justin smirked as he dropped a card; he probably had two pairs or three of a kind with a high suit. Wayne just pouted at his hand, probably a crappy hand all around, especially since he had to get rid of four cards. But even with the new cards he looked disappointed. Ernie, well Ernie was still scowling. The poor pure-blood had no idea what he was doing, he didn't know the rules and he had nothing left to bet. Harry almost felt sorry for him.

Harry had two pairs in his hand already, one high, one low. There was a possibility of him having a better hand than Justin but he better bluff his arse off just in case. Harry raised the bet to three chocolate frogs and a sugar quill.

Wayne Instantly folded, and Ernie quickly followed. Justin just smirked, though a little less than before, and saw that bet and raised it two more quills. Harry kept his face still as he saw the bet but did not raise it. Justin was a bit too excited for his taste. Maybe he should have folded but he was never one to back down if there was a chance to win.

"On the count of three?" Harry asked evenly, hoping his calm confidence would force the other boy to fold.

"Just put down your cards." Justin said with much bravado as he laid down his set of three queens.

"Damn." Harry mumbled as he showed his pair of fives and kings.

"YES! I finally beat you!" Justin cheered as he raked in his winnings.

Harry rolled his unseen eyes at the winner's actions "Whatever kid, just hand the cards over to Wayne and let's get another round going."

Justin complied but before they could continue the first year boy's dorm was barged into by a familiar pink haired figure, "Wotcher Tonks. What's going on?"

The seventh year stumbled over to Harry before practically kneeling to him "You got to tell me! How did you do it?"

Harry resisted the urge to strike at the sudden movement and kept his calm as he asked "What are you talking about Tonks?"

"What did you do to Snape?" She elaborated not even bothering from getting out of her kneeling position, looking up at him with hopeful eyes.

"Nothing. He didn't seem as bad as everyone was saying. A bit snippy in the beginning but went about class normal enough."

Tonks looked at him like he was crazy, her hair cycling from pink to black to blonde "But he is NEVER like that in his classes! He is always an arse!"

Harry just shrugged "Like I said, he seemed normal enough." Though he did seem freaked out most of the class, maybe it was his eyes? Harry didn't really know or care, he just wanted out of that classroom. It was a simple potion but he still felt the need to wash his hair immediately. "Help me out here guys." He said turning to the other three first years.

"He didn't seem all that bad." Justin said with a shrug, Wayne gave a similar action while shuffling the deck, Ernie just grunted.

"See?" He said gesturing to the other three "I'm actually starting to think the whole school is just putting on one big joke on all of us first years."

"It is no lie." Tonks said chastising the younger boy "I don't know how you did it but you did something to make The Bat nice-ish"

Tonks spent many more minutes trying to find out what Harry did to get Snape to act like a normal person instead of an overgrown bat with an ego to match. Eventually she gave up and forced herself into the game. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, the young Metamorph had one of the best poker faces ever in the history of poker, well according to Harry that is.

-0-

Albus Dumbledore sat at his desk sucking on a lemon drop, his face scrunched in calm contemplation. It seemed a lapse in judgment had derailed a very delicate process. One where, if done the correct way, would have given the world another beacon of light, another Dumbledore. Someone who could and would be the shield of the innocent, the hand to redeem the wicked and when needed the hesitant sword to deal with the evils.

A man who lived for the world and not himself that was what he was trying to nurture, to build.

That was why he placed Harry with the Dursleys. They would have taught him humility. That magic wasn't the only way and they as the magical people should not lord it over those without their gift. It would have taught him to appreciate what he had.

Or at least that was what he had hoped. He did not anticipate how affected Petunia was by her childhood with Lily. So much jealousy and fear turned to anger and hate only to then be channeled onto an innocent child. It was shameful. The memories she pulled from that family proved it enough.

He only managed to find which hospital the poor boy ended up in by chance. Though the hospital attendants were less than helpful, some nonsense about patient confidentiality. It didn't matter anyway since very few knew any facts on the boy besides that one of the nurses who was now taking care of him. And the Healers there were not much help either; one in fact was quite aggressive with her brush off. But then again that has always been Ms. Cutting's way. In retrospect he should have known it was Ms. Cutting that took young Harry in, but he was blinded by distress.

A Harry Potter raised by a Healer was not a Harry Potter he had planned or prepared for. He was exposed to magic much too early for Dumbledore to help guide his views on the subject and its society. The whole Cutting family, while being quite Muggle friendly, were very neutral when it came to any other subject in their society. Bending here and there with some issues but never having a clear side. If the boy was raised by such a family he could be easily swayed to either side of the fence, all it would take was one good push.

And he had to make sure the push landed on his side. Harry Potter was the future of the Wizarding world. The steps he took would echo in the coming decades. And Albus Dumbledore would ensure that those steps lead to the correct paths. But he could already see the divergence due to the changed environment on the boy, there was no better example than him being a Hufflepuff. It was workable but a Gryffindor would have been so much better. He just needed to plan the events correctly and he could still create the next champion.

Though he would admit his first foray into finding out how the boy was raised failed miserably. Hagrid may be a good man but he was not that bright and unknowingly twisted the old man's words. Dumbledore just wanted to find out about the boy's home situation was. He wasn't trying to say the boy was in an unfit environment. That single act may have alienated Harry from the Headmaster. He couldn't have that. He had to find a way to have the boy trust him.

Now, if only Severus would come and report to him how the boy's first class went.

-0-

Harry was absentmindedly swishing his wand over his match, changing it back and forth from a needle. He did it without any other wand movement or incantation, for a first year it was very impressive but to Harry it was such an infantile task. Something that barely brushed on magic, but it was his assignment and he would do it.

"How are you doing that so easily?" Hannah loudly complained as she swished and flicked her wand while mumbling her incantation, the only result was making the match slightly pointier.

"It's all about visualization of what you want and how to bend it into what you want." He said casually. Transfiguration classes were mostly about practice and the theories about the use. It didn't get too difficult until you reached the more complex creations. That was when it stopped being magic and slowly turned to science. The more you know about the object you are changing or the object you want it to be it was such an easier task. Magic users of old were known for quick transfigurations of swords and his House portrait told them stories how he could make five arrows in less than a second.

Now Organic Transfiguration, in any shape or form, was an interesting subject. Many couldn't actually complete the process without great effort, along with trial and error, ending up with a living cup or a lion made of wood that could only move through animation charms. Muggleborns and farm living wizards usually had a slight advantage with this subject due to knowing and studying animals unlike many of their classmates. Maybe he could ask his mother to send him some biology and zoology books in his next letter.

"Can you PLEASE be more enlightening than that?" Hannah begged, while Susan nodded her head and added in her own plea.

Harry was tempted to repeat one of his Grandfather's lesson to them 'don't beg, do it yourself or you won't achieve anything' but Susan had pulled off a pitiful face that made the mother in him cave. "It doesn't work for everyone but I usually focus on the transition." Seeing their confused look he explained "Just look at what needs to be changed. The point, the material, the thickness, the length, hit each one by one and you should get it." He said easily enough.

"Excellent suggestion Mr…. Cutting." McGonagall said as she walked over to their group and heard Harry's advice "Five point to Hufflepuff. I am impressed you know such a method. Most find it easier just to visualize one to the other instead of using steps." She honestly was, she found that using the steps lead to a higher quality transfiguration but many people found it easier to just to force the change. To just push an object from its natural state and settle with what the achieved. It was refreshing to see someone take the initiative to learn the more uncommon path.

"Thank you ma'am," Harry said with a nod of his head to show he appreciated the compliment and points.

McGonagall gave her own nod before leaving the Hufflepuff students back to their work. But as she walked away she couldn't help the stray thought that he inherited his father's talent in her subject.

Many of Harry's classes went by similarly , painfully easy. While some of the knowledge he remembered as Tom and Geneva was outdated they were still more than enough to breeze through the classes. And he still didn't care for Herbology or Potions.

At the rate he was progressing they may have to give him advanced classes or let him skip a year. That he would have to think about, he was starting to make friends with kids in his year and nothing was more important than loyalty, be it to family, friends or allies.

The week seemed to just flow into the weekend and Harry seemed to be starting a routine at the campus. Wake up, work out, hygiene, breakfast, class, lunch, class, workout, dinner, night hygiene, bed with several intervals where he just spent time with his friends. But the routine he was trying to build for himself was interrupted on Saturday during breakfast when he received a note from Professor Sprout that the Headmaster would like to speak to him.

Harry had a few memories of the Albus Dumbledore from his past life as Tom. Some of them were fond memories of the man who introduced him to magic and was one of the, if not _the_ closest thing he had to a father figure. While others memories viewed the man as a road block to his path to true power. Adding those memories to the fact that the man deemed himself fit to have someone drop in on his family to check his home situation. There was no 'situation', there was just a family going on happily with their daily routine until a half giant kicked in their front door.

So at the moment, Harry did not have a high opinion of the man. But he would grudgingly go, despite his stances on certain subjects he was no delinquent who did not listen to his instructors. His mother brought him up better than that. He would go to his after breakfast appointment with as even of a temper as his Occlumency would allow him.

When breakfast disappeared from the table Harry said his goodbyes and made his way through the castle to the Headmaster's office. He had been there enough as Tom to know where it was but there was one thing he forgot as he reached the entrance. The gargoyle. He forgot about the stupid living statue that guarded the door to the office and it wouldn't get out of the way unless he had the password.

"Bugger," Harry mumbled to himself. He didn't recall Professor Sprout giving him a password or even alluding to one. So he was stuck staring at the statues ugly face until Dumbledore decided to open the way. He was probably still making his way from the Great Hall to where he was. Unless the old man knew of some sort of a secret passage that Harry didn't know about, it was unlikely but still possible. Maybe he had his phoenix teleport him up to his office in a burst of flames. If he wanted the whole mysterious adult figure routine that was probably what he did.

He received his answer when the gargoyle started to move to the side and an aged voiced beckoned him from beyond the stairs. It would have been an offsetting event for those new to magic and maybe a bit intimidating to a few who grew up in magic. But Harry found the attempted theatrics droll.

Ascending the stairs he found the second door to the Headmaster's office open and he walked into the grand room. It was like a smaller, more decorated, version of the library with portraits of past headmasters hung at various angles and places. Walking a bit further in the room he spotted a phoenix in its prime staring at him from its perch.

Harry would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous about the creature before him. He probably wouldn't be anything more than wary if not for two things. One, was that his soul was part former Dark Lord, and two, his other form wasn't exactly friends with the bird's species. It was still an unknown if the phoenix cry, one that was meant to hurt the dark, would hurt him.

The magical bird stared at him for a few seconds before chirping a few notes and gesturing with its head to the room beyond. Harry blinked a few times on finding out that his worries unwarranted, but eventually he nodded his head. Moving on to where the phoenix pointed to him Harry found a short staircase leading to the Headmaster's desk with the man himself waiting behind it.

The old man gave him a kind smile and gestured to the chair in front of his desk "Why, hello, Mister Potter. Why don't you take a seat?"

Harry did as he was told but corrected the much older man as he took his seat "It's Cutting, sir."

Albus blinked for a moment before responding "Of course, of course. I do believe I recall a message from Filius to the staff about that." While he said that out loud he couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment that the boy wasn't using his birth name. "How are you enjoying you're stay at Hogwarts?"

Harry unconsciously shifted in the stiff, uncomfortable, chair before answering "Well enough I suppose." He said drawing on his usual indifference and left is answer at that.

Dumbledore didn't seem to let that put him off so he just added on to his question "How about classes, are they going well?"

'Easy' "They seem to be going fine." Harry said with barely any pause before moving on to his own question "Sir, if I may ask… Why am I here?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at the boy's directness. Some thought it was just a trait of the old man's that happened when he was happy. They were only partially right. Tom and even Geneva knew that it was due to his powerful magical nature. The stronger a witch or wizard the more it showed in their emotions. Some gained an aura, some made the air around them heavy or a blaze, and some like Dumbledore and Voldemort showed it predominantly in everyday life in their eyes. The Headmaster's twinkled in his constant amusement and Tom's eyes dyed themselves red and started to glow. Harry himself was proud to say he was only a few years away from reaching such a level.

"I was curious to see how you were adjusting to our campus." Dumbledore said with a smile, it was a half-truth. He did want to know how the boy was adjusting but he also wanted to get his own read on the boy. Severus seemed… disoriented by the boy but the rest of the staff seemed to have nothing but praise at the boy's ability when questioned. But his mannerisms were so different from what he expected, direct, proud, indifferent about many things. It just didn't match his estimations. He needed a better read to help to forge him onto the correct path.

However, the tinted glasses Harryy was wearing was making it very difficult to read the boy's expressions. He would have thought that his professors would have had an issue with them in their classes, and have even complained about the lenses to him. But no report or complaint was given to him. So it could be assumed that they either allowed them or the boy removed them when he went to class. Either way he would like them off the boy.

"Now, as stylish as those lenses make you look I would appreciate if you removed them."

Harry gave him an unseen wry look but did as he was told. Even if the Headmaster did try something his mental sheilds strong enough to block most wandless mind probes. And if he broke through the barriers, Harry's knee was stronger than the old man's crooked nose.

Albus did his best to keep his face straight as he peered into the bicolored eyes. So very familiar, familiar to the point that it frightened him, yet they were still so very different from the two people they reminded him of. Out of his own curiosity he had to wonder how such lazy half lidded eyes could still look so feral and intense. "Now, that is much better." he said as if it was the easiest thing to do "But if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your eye?"

"Dudley and his friends" Harry said, it was better not to lie. Lies were for when the truth had no benefits and when the truth doesn't matter and a lie can't make it better just say what happened. Besides, as evident from the look on the headmasters face, the truth can be profitable too. Or at least it could be amusing.

"Really now?" Dumbledore choked out. He knew how the boy's relatives treated him but it was still something else entirely to see the visible evidence.

"It is not so bad." Harry continued with a shrug "I met my mum because of it."

"It is good to see that there really is always a silver lining." Dumbledore said while lost in his thoughts.

Harry more conscious of how uncomfortable the chair was and how he was shifting in it started to contemplate if there was some sort of charm on the damn thing. "Is that all sir?" he asked politely, feeling that the whole meeting, even if part of it amused him, was pointless and a waste of his time.

Dumbledore mused for a moment. The meeting was short and he had not left much of an impression on the boy but he was able to get a decent read on the boy so far. More meetings like this in the future, hopefully more in-depth ones would be needed. But they would have to be few and far apart. The boy seemed irritable about being in his office. So for now he would just nod his head and allow the boy to walk out.

"Thank you. Have a nice night, sir." And Harry Potter left his office without another word.

-0-

September flowed by quickly and with barely any notice to Harry. The classes were becoming easier and easier for him as little bits of information started to draw old information forward from the back of his mind. The only class he seemed to have even a remote amount of trouble in was Herbology, thankfully his classmates were always eager to help. Most of his teachers seemed delighted with his progress but he was positively bored.

The only event of noticeable entertainment was the Flying Lessons with the Gryffindor. He felt a little bad for a boy named Neville when he lost control of his broom and fell a good few meters.

When October came around Harry was already reading ahead in the theory and practicing in the lesser halls. While he knew how to do many of the spells he was casting, even remembering how to do them without a wand or voice and taking them to the next level, but his body just wasn't used to it. It was like having the muscle memory etched into his magic but he hadn't exercised his magic enough to use it like he remembered. He was still more advanced than any first or second year though.

Besides that, practicing spells made for great work on his rest days from working out.

Admittedly his advanced studies combined with his workout routine had slightly distance himself from his friends. Sure he made a few more friendly acquaintances in class, one Slytherin boy named Blaise was bordering to the level of friend, but he found most of his time surrounding the craft and art.

He made a small mental note to hold back just a little. Just because his family and instructor weren't there to hold him back from pushing himself too far didn't mean he needed or wanted to find the end of the cliff. He was all for pushing past his limits but it really wasn't worth damaging himself, physically or mentally, for. Besides, working out too much at his age makes you short. He wanted to be tall, if for nothing else than to get his family off the whole "he's our little boy" routine they kept using on him.

But when he sat down a few moments before dinner would begin, he noticed that one of his friends was missing, and she was never late for anything. "Susan, Hannah, do you know where Hermione is?" He asked as he peered over at the Ravenclaw table to see if she was there.

Both girls shook their head. "We haven't seen her all day. We thought she was with you or in the Library again."

Harry frowned as he stood up and walked over to the first year Ravenclaws "Have you lot seen Hermione?"

An Asian girl that Harry could barely remember her name, Su-Li, shook her head "No. I haven't seen her since charms class." Harry hummed a bit before turning to the other Ravenclaws to see if they knew.

"Um" The Hufflepuff boy turned his attention to the Indian girl who spoke up "My sister, Parvati said she saw her crying in the bathroom. Something about a boy making fun of her."

"Do you know which bathroom?"

The dark skinned girl shook her head "No, but my sister might. She's over at the Gryffindor table." Harry's eyes briefly tracked where the girl pointed to before saying his thanks and going on his way.

Harry knew some people were watching him curiously, wondering what he was doing, but right now he was a man on a mission to get the information he wanted.

Walking along the table of lions he made his way over to the first years and tapped the dark skinned girl on the shoulder. She instantly turned, seemingly about to rebuke the person who interrupted her conversation but paused when she saw who it was. "Excuse me, but I was wondering if you knew where my friend, Hermione, was. Your sister said you saw her crying in a bathroom somewhere… can you tell me which one?"

Parvati stuttered for a bit before telling she saw Hermione crying in the girls' bathroom in the dungeons. Harry nodded his thanks and went back to Susan and Hannah to tell them what is going on.

"So, I'm going to go check on her."

"We'll come with you." Hannah announced as she started to get up, Susan only a step ahead of her .

Harry waved them off "No, its fine. It won't take me too long to get her out of there."

"But,"

"Just wait for a bit okay. We'll be back up in at most ten minutes."

"Fine," Hannah said with a huff as she plopped back down in her seat with a hesitant Susan following.

"Don't worry, we'll be back soon."

-0-

Harry had quickly made his way through the castle taking many shortcuts through secret passages, the he remembered from Tom's memories, and soon found himself in front of the dungeon bathrooms. He took in a quick breath and braced himself as he grasped the handle and started to turn it. He barely made a wince as the knob quickly heated up and started to sear his hand. For a moment he wondered if it would have been better if he brought one of the girls along to at least open the door. But he pushed the thought away as he opened the door and made his way in.

The Hufflepuff looked around the room for a moment before walking over to the ivory stall that had the weak sounds of sobbing coming from behind its doors. Harry lightly knocked the stall door "Hermione, are you in there. It's Harry."

"Go away, Harry. I want to be alone." She sniffed out

"Now why would I leave a friend alone while she is crying?" He asked in a soothing voice. It was against his very nature to abandon a friend.

He heard a few more sobs from behind the door. Harry sighed and leaned against the stall over. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"No" she replied in weak sob.

Internally he cursed his maternal instincts that decided to stick around "It'll make you feel better." He said again in a soothing coo.

Hermione sniffed a few times but didn't open the stall doors. "I tried helping a Gryffindor boy in Charms class, he was pronouncing the spell wrong, and he got angry at me." She said with a sniff "After class he yelled at me. Saying how I was a know-it-all and that no one liked me."

"While I might agree with the 'know-it-all' comment, which is a part of your charm" he said when he heard a sob as at his answer "You know that you have friends, like me, Susan and Hannah."

"I know but it still hurt and you're not around as much anymore" Harry heard some shuffling from the other side "I-I've never had many friends. I can barely think of anyone who wanted to play with me when I was little."

"Well, that changes here, doesn't it." He said firmly "We can play any ridiculous game you want. I'll even play dolls and dress up, you know, the whole be one of the girls routine" There was a snort of laughter "Ready to come out now?"

There was a moment of silence before the stall door slowly started to open revealing Hermione with her puffy eyes and red nose. Harry gave her comforting smile and a one armed hug. "C'mon. Let's get you some food"

She gave him a weak but grateful smile as they started to walk out the door only for Harry to stop and wrinkle his nose. "Do you smell that?"

Hermione paused for a moment, not quite understanding what he smelled, and took a long sniff of the air. She did smell something unpleasant but it was faint. "Yes. What is it?"

"I don't know…" Harry said, feeling a bit unsure about the situation. He could feel it in the animal instincts that had engrained themselves in his psyche, something was coming and it wasn't good. But what it was he didn't know. "Let's just get out of here… Now!"

He started to hurry her along but it seemed they weren't quick enough as a large green hand slammed down at the bend of the hallways. Hermione froze instantly as the rest of the creature's body came into view. It was some sort of troll, what type Harry couldn't tell, but whatever kind it was it had a few heads on the Groundskeeper. The thing was also ugly, stank like hell, and carried a large wooden club which it seemed very eager to use.

"What is that!" Hermione shrieked, making them lose what little of a chance they had left to sneak away.

Harry started to viscously push her along as he dug through his robes to get to his waist holster "It's a bloody troll. Now, run!"

As Hermione started to move Harry tore out his wand and looked over his shoulder to see that Hermione wasn't the only one to take his advice. The beast came charging at them, its club held high and mouth opened with a clumsy roar. "_Merde, merde, merde!_" If there was thing Harry was sure about trolls was that they were undeniably stronger and faster than any normal human, even wizards. And nearest turn was several meters away.

At the moment Harry had three options. One keep on running and have both him and Hermione be caught, killed, eaten, or knowing a trolls… habits, worse. Option two, trip Hermione and keep on running to leave her to her fate. And since neither of those options suited Harry he was left with option three.

Fight long enough for Hermione to get away.

Actually, he preferred option three. It sounded fun. It a slightly insane way.

Turning on the tips of his toes he quickly turned around his left hand pointing his wand at the troll "INCENDIO"

He roared out the spell with as much power as he could, feeding the spell with a powerful burst of his magic and sending a large explosion of flames right into the chest of the troll. When it let out an inhuman howl in pain Hermione briefly looked behind her to see what happened.

"DON"T YOU DARE STOP RUNNING!" Harry yelled without looking behind him, keeping his eyes on the stumbling and flailing creature in front of him. It would be smarter to run with her, he should have run off after her but something in him refused to back down. What it was he couldn't tell. Maybe it was some left over arrogance from Tom, maybe the saying 'Never back down' that was ingrained in into thanks to his Muay Thai classes, maybe it was the beast in him refusing to lose to something like a troll. Or maybe he was just crazy. It didn't matter either way, he was staying.

"But,"

"GO!" Hermione left without another word.

As the troll was still trying to put itself out Harry waved his wand at towards the suit of amours lined up at the side of the hallway. With a flick and a quick, and modified, incantation, three of them floated into the air with little trouble or resistance. With another flick of his wand the metal men were sent flying towards the now no longer on fire, but still smoking green beast.

In quick succession they hit the creatures head and chest, shocking and enraging it. But it was those few moments of shock that Harry wanted and used to gather enough magic to actually hurt the creature. As stupid as trolls were, they had a high amount of resistance to magic. So unless he wanted to pick up one of those swords on the ground and hope for a lucky shot, he had to pour a good bit of magic into his spells.

The troll righted itself and started forward again, telegraphing where he planned on slamming his make shift mallet. Not that it really had to worry about telegraphing with its speed. Harry barely had time to curse and put up a very feeble shield to block the incoming swing.

After his shield was destroyed and he was sent tumbling into the wall with a grunt, his sunglasses skidding along the ground as they flew from his face, he started berating himself. Not for running but for making such a horribly cast shield. Inexperience was no excuse, there were never excuses.

Suppressing any sounds or signs of pain Harry quickly stood to his feet and blasted the green beast with another burst of fire. It screamed again but managed to work through the pain and stumbled forward to attack him. But this time, instead of blocking Harry met the assault with another assault. He dug into his well of magic and grabbed a chunk of it and dragged it to the forefront. Once again he made the amateur error of shouting the spell when used. But then again, did it matter against such a dumb opponent?

The next thing Harry knew was that he was covered in slimy blood and the troll was missing its right hand. It blinked a few times, then made a few unrecognizable sounds and then it roared in fury, smacking Harry aside harshly. He skidded across the floor, not even bothering to notice all the welts and bruises it caused but the sharp pain coming from his side.

Harry grunted in pain but got to his feet, knowing that if he stayed on the ground he would most likely die. It was kind of a thrill really. But he wasn't like Tom who loved to drag out an event, he was Harry and he liked to get things done as quickly and as effectively as possible.

And this whole fight has gone on for far too long in his opinion. If only the hallway was a little bigger… then he could show the troll what a real monster was.

He could run right now and let the thing bleed to death if not for two things. One, he never leaves a job half-finished and two, the troll was already making its way towards him again. It was slower and cradling its new stump of a hand but the scowl on its face told him it wasn't giving up.

"Bloody salaud" Harry cursed in his bastardized English-French, "Doesn't know when to quit."

The Hufflepuff sent yet another burst of fire at the troll and started to limp out of his current position. He actually winced as he noticed that it was more than just his side that was hurting, he probably twisted or sprained his ankle. He was actually starting to wish the troll was something more average sized so he could just punch it down.

Harry blasted the troll again as it tried to stand up, a much weaker fire but it still probably hurt like a bitch.

Looking around quickly he noticed the severed hand still holding the troll's club. Using his modified levitation spell again he magically picked up the heavy instrument. He quickly brought the club up to the troll's head level and slammed it against the creatures face. It stumbled, dazed, but Harry didn't let up and used the club again. No the creature was on its back most likely knocked out cold, but again, Harry didn't let up. He levitated the club over the troll's head and let it drop, letting its weight and gravity do the work.

It was oddly satisfying to see its blood splatter all over the floor. He was pretty sure he wasn't a sociopath but that wasn't a very good sign.

He spat to the side, empting his mouth of the blood from where he bit his cheek earlier in the fight, and turned to leave. He figured someone would be down soon enough to clean up the mess and someone would most likely put two and two together, as Hermione undoubtedly told someone he was still down there.

He briefly looked around for his glasses but saw the tinted lenses shattered, probably from all the stupid beast's stumbling. He would have to get his mother to send him another pair. He just wasn't comfortable without them.

Harry slowly, and admittedly painfully, started his way up the stairs to begin his long journey to the Hospital Wing. Half way up the second flight of stairs he found himself facing all four Head of Houses.

Professor Sprout was the first one to break the silence as she stepped forward to check on her Puff "Dear Merlin… Mr. Cutting, are you alright?"

"A few scrapes and bruises but I'll be fine." The woman didn't seem to believe him and was still taking stock of his wounds. Harry repressed a sigh and looked at the other teachers. While the Charms and Transfiguration Professors seemed worried the Potions professor seemed wary.

It did not take half a moment more before McGonagall had started issuing orders "Pomona, take Mr. Cutting" the name still sounded forced "To Poppy while we go deal with the troll."

Harry wanted to say not to bother but someone had to clean it up and he didn't feel like being questioned at the moment.

After his Head of house nodded and started to lead, and support, him up the stairs to the Hospital Wing. It wasn't till they were half way there that Harry had noticed his hair was sticking to the side of his face.

He cautiously tapped his hand to hair and then looked at his now wet fingers. He stared at them in shock for a moment before turning to his teacher "Professor?"

"Yes Harry?"

"Is there blood in my hair?"

The Professor stopped walking, causing Harry to stop with his support "W-what?" she asked surprised by the boy's question.

"Is, there, blood, in, my hair?" He asked slowly, his shock making him seem ruder than normal.

She immediately checked his head to see if he injured his head, the young Ravenclaw said he stayed behind to stall the troll and she had no idea how much damage it could have done to him. But as she looked at his head she noticed that yes there was blood in his hair but it was near black and looked more like aslime than a liquid. It wasn't human blood, it was troll blood.

Exactly what had happened in the dungeons?

Steeling herself she answered "There seems to be a bit."

Harry quickly left his shock and swore in his trilingual tongue at a rapid and increasing loud pace.

**I hope y'all liked that. See yah' soon. **

**Oh and one more thing. Would the son of a KKK member and a neo-Nazi, who agrees with his families ideals, go out with a mulatto? If you thought no, ask yourself then why pair the pureblood Draco with the Half-blood Harry?**


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